Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
About 4 million growers are involved in the cultivation of sugar-
cane. Sugarcane is cultivated under a number of biotic and abiotic
stresses, resulting in yield stagnation/fluctuation and low recov-
ery. Sugarcane cultivation has assumed five dimensions, namely,
maximisation of productivity, minimisation of cost production,
sustainability, value addition and competitiveness.
In India, the total area under sugarcane cultivation was 41 lac
hectare with productivity of 70 t/ha. Also, 10-20% of the sugar
recovery was done during 2009-2012. Being a C4 plant, sug-
arcane is physiologically one of the most efficient solar energy
harvesting plant. As per the agro-biological calculation and
considering 50% use of solar radiation and 30% transpiration
loss in sugarcane, it is possible to harvest 600 t/ha of total bio-
mass. Some of the progressive growers have achieved 350 t/ha
of cane yield; and therefore, there is a great scope to bridge the
gap between potential and actual cane yields. Sugarcane agri-
culture in the country is associated with inherent inconsisten-
cies in area and production due to various factors like climate,
cane and sugar pricing, pricing of other commodities, cost of
inputs and labour, labour availability and so on. The last decade
saw the widest fluctuation in sugarcane production ranging
from 12.7 million tonnes in 2004-2005 to the record production
of 28.4 million tonnes in 2006-2007, leading to either a deficit
or surplus situation. The present requirement of sugar in the
country is 23 million tonnes, which is the highest in the world.
The current production can meet the domestic requirement with
an occasional surplus. Domestic sugar price in India is among
the lowest in the world. The production cost of Indian sugar is
estimated to be in the medium range—costlier than Australia
and Brazil but lower than that of the United States. In the future,
we may face stiff competition from African countries, whose
production costs are lower than India.
The growth of the sugarcane agriculture in the country has
been spectacular: From 1.17 m hectare in 1930-1931, the cane
area increased to 5.1 million hectare by 2006-2007; almost a
fourfold increase. During this period, the productivity went up
from 31 to 68 t/ha, sugarcane production increased from 37
million tonnes to 355 million tonnes and sugar production had
gone up from 0.12 million tonnes to 28.4 million tonnes. Sugar
recovery also showed an improvement from 9.0% to 10.27%.
The number of sugar factories went up from 29 to over 500
at present. The growth in cane and sugar production was con-
tributed by two factors; a fourfold increase in cane area and
improvement in productivity by more than 100%. Both these
factors were possible because of the development of new,
