Generally, it is economically unviable to crush cane below 9.5 per cent recovery at sugar mills. Such cane is usually diverted for jaggery and khandasari manufacturing, in addition to juice making.
At the beginning of the sugar season (October-September), the state government had directed mills not to end the season till the last cane was crushed. The government had also demanded adherence to its directives. Normally, sugar crushing starts in October and ends by the first week of April as the recovery falls drastically thereafter.
Despite the government's measures, the Maharashtra sugar commissioner Rajgopal Deora anticipates cane area of about 30,000 hectares to remain unharvested this season.
The state witnessed bumper sugarcane production of 840 lakh tonnes spread over a total acreage area of 12 lakh hectares this year as against the total cane output of 790 lakh tonnes last year.
Out of the 183 registered sugar mills in Maharashtra, only 166 have begun production this year. Thirty mills, mainly in the Kolhapur region, have shut down their activities, while the remaining 121 mills are expected to continue crushing till the end of the month.
According to an official at the Sugar Commissioner's office, a few dozen mills are likely to operate till the first week of June.
The state has crushed 700 lakh tonnes of cane till now, with an average recovery of 12 per cent. But the extension in crushing period is likely to extract hardly 2 lakh tonnes of sugar by crushing an anticipated 65 lakh tonnes of cane.
When quizzed, Deora said, "The average recovery in Maharashtra is likely to decline to 11.5 per cent or even lesser, with the extra cane being crushed with minimum recovery."
Meanwhile, the state government is considering compensation formula and the final decision is likely very soon. Informed sources said that the government may compensate farmers at the last year's rate of Rs 25,000 a hectare.
The state had given subsidy worth Rs 457 crore to the sugar industry in the last financial year. It had paid a compensation of Rs 132 crore to the farmers for uncrushed cane and around Rs 75 crore to the sugar factories towards under-recoveries.
Moreover, the government had paid a transport subsidy of Rs 30 crore to encourage the sugar cooperatives to buy sugarcane from the farmers. The state had also extended an export subsidy of Rs 1,000 a tonne to the sugar cooperatives, totalling Rs 220 crore.
