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Area under sugarcane falls 38% at 85,000 hectares in Haryana

Total area under sugarcane plantation in Haryana has drastically declined by 38% to 85,000 hectares from 1.40 lakh hectares in 2007-08.

Total area under sugarcane plantation in Haryana has drastically declined by 38% to 85,000 hectares from 1.40 lakh hectares in 2007-08.

Sugarcane is grown on about 3.4 million hectares in the northern region, including the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar, which accounts for 68% of the total area under sugarcane.

State agriculture minister Sukhbir Kataria told FE on Sunday that ?the decline in area under sugarcane was a matter of grave concern and the state government has launched a technical mission with a budgetary outlay of R3.73 crore for the year to promote sugarcane cultivation in the state. A provision of R2.73 crore has been made during the current fiscal year itself under this mission?.

With reduced area under the crop, the sugarcane production has got a hit, posing problems of crushing for the 10 sugar mills in the cooperative sector in the state.

As compared with a production of 886 lakh quintals in the 2007-08 season, the sugarcane production was about 580 lakh quintals last year. Even though the state government?s announcement of the highest-ever sugarcane prices in November had failed to motivate farmers to opt for sugarcane against other crops.

The yield in major sugarcane growing districts ? Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Sonipat, Rohtak and Panipat ? had also come down to about 590 quintal per hectare this year as compared with 632 quintal the previous year. Due to better returns from paddy-wheat combination as compared to sugarcane, the farmers are also moving on to inter-crop system. Keeping in mind the long maturing period of sugarcane crop they preferred crops like onion, wheat, gram, garlic etc. along with sugarcane to earn extra income. Labour shortage is another major factor that keeps farmers away from this crop.

The state minister said, ?farm mechanisation will be promoted for sugarcane to reduce dependence on labour. The farmers would be given special incentives to adopt new methods of sugarcane planting like ring-pit, trench and other-cropping to make sugarcane crop more profitable.?

To increase food productivity, Haryana agriculture department is giving fungicides for seed treatment on 100% subsidy and R12.50 crore has been earmarked during 2011-12 for this purpose under a sate plan scheme.

Kataria said that in the view of the decline in area under sugarcane, the state government has taken a series of initiatives to incentivise farmers for growing sugarcane. The state government has enhanced the sugarcane price to R231, R226 and R221 per quintal for early, medium and late maturing varieties of sugarcane, respectively for the ensuring 2011-12 crushing season. Autumn planting for sugarcane has been promoted and a subsidy at a rate of R2,000 per acre on sugarcane seed was provided to the sugarcane growers during 2009-10.

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First published on: 02-01-2012 at 00:58 IST
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