Cane crushing deferred in state

Heavy rains damage crop; a blessing in disguise for sugar industry

The week-long rains across North Karnataka have no doubt caused massive loss to human life and standing agriculture crops, but theyhave also come as a blessing in disguise for the sugar industry.

The sugar mills, which were getting ready to crush immature cane due to shortage of crop, are now forced to postpone their crushing programme by at least 15 days as heavy rains have left sugarcane fields unfit for harvesting. As a result, the cane crop will grow for some more days and sugar recovery will increase by at least 1 per cent, the sugar industry sources said.

In fact, last month, the South Indian Sugar Mills Association (SISMA), had even urged the state government to issue a direction to all the mills to postpone crushing to November 1, 2009 in order to facilitate proper growth of cane across north Karnataka. Out of 25 mills in north Karnataka, only two mills, which had started crushing, have also shut down operations after the rain fury.

“We are very happy that heavy rains will help sugarcane crop to grow further and result into higher yield for farmer and rise in sugar recovery for mills. For the next 15 days no farmer can enter the field to harvest the crop due to slurry in the fields. It is a blessing in disguise for the whole nation, which is reeling under shortage of sugar currently,” Jagadeesh S Gudagunti, president, SISMA said.

He feels that the farmers can go for replanting of the damaged crop and still recover their losses. Heavy rains in the region will also help recharge the ground water that can be used for future crops, he said.

According to initial estimates by the government, out of 361,000 hectares brought under fresh plantation for sugarcane between April 1 and September 30, 2009 in Karnataka, only 18,734 hectares, which is about 5 per cent of the total area, is affected by the rain in the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur and Bagalkot.

Among these, Belgaum was the worst affected at 11,964 hectares, followed by Bijapur with 4,000 hectares and Bagalkot with 2,770 hectares. While the total area planted for cane in Belgaum was 165,290 hectares, followed by Bagalkot at 81,135 hectares and Bijapur with 4,614 hectares.

As a result of delayed crushing, the mills will now be assured of an addition of about 10 tonnes of cane. For the sugar year beginning October 2009, the total crop is estimated at 17.5 million tonnes, about 10 per cent more than last year. For the sugar year October 2008-September 2009, mills in Karnataka have crushed 15.93 million tonnes of cane, a drop of 40 per cent over the previous year. The sugar production for the year ended September 2009 is 1.67 million tonnes at an average recovery of 10.35 per cent.

Last year, drastic reduction took place in cane cultivation because of failure of timely monsoon, low price for the cane and immature cane crushed due to early start of sugar factories in August in southern Karnataka and September 2008 in northern Karnataka, Gudagunti said.

Meanwhile, for the year 2009-10, sugar mills in north Karnataka are likely to announce a cane price of Rs 1,800 per tonne ex-field, about 20 per cent more than last year. In addition to this Rs 350 will be paid towards cost of harvesting and transportation, he said.