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Drought cripples sugar industry
Crisis surrounding sugar industry is seemingly deepening further with the prevailing drought, growers shifting to other crops and above all the lackadaisical approach of the State government in resolving the long-standing problems faced by the growers and the millers.
​Hyderabad: Crisis surrounding sugar industry is seemingly deepening further with the prevailing drought, growers shifting to other crops and above all the lackadaisical approach of the State government in resolving the long-standing problems faced by the growers and the millers.
While the normal area under sugarcane cultivation in Telangana is around 41,000 hectares, farmers took up cultivation in around 25,000 hectares in the ongoing season. With the prevailing drought conditions, the yield which normally varies around 62 tonnes a hectare is now expected to drop around 50 tonnes. It may be mentioned here that after crushing a tonne of sugarcane produce 105 kilograms of sugar.
The low yield not only to hurt the growers, who have been traditionally dependent on sugarcane farming, especially in Medak, Nizamabad and Khammam districts, but it will also to push the millers into a crisis when the next crushing season commences in November.
Albeit, there are 11 sugar mills in the State, only seven of them are working presently. These mills need an approximate 36 lakh tonnes of sugarcane a year. But now they stand to get just about 15 lakh tonnes of raw in the next crushing season.
South Indian Sugar Mills Association (SISMA) president and the Indian Sugar Mills Association vice-president T Saritha Reddy said: “The sugar industry in Telangana is heading towards a crisis with the government turning a blind eye to the issues faced by the millers.
As if the burden of the value added tax (VAT) is not enough, cultivation of sugarcane fell drastically in the State. This apart, sugar is being dumped in the State from Karnataka and Maharashtra. As a result, the millers were forced to export sugar to far-flung places like Kolkata. With the financial transaction consuming a lot of time, it’s causing a delay in the payment to growers.”
“Let the market forces decide the price of sugar based on demand and supply,” she demanded, stating that neither the grower nor the miller is benefited while the traders are making hay of the situation.
It may be mentioned here that Telangana and Tamil Nadu are the only two States that are slapping VAT on sugar sales. All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) national vice-president Sarampalli Malla Reddy said: “The government should make all the closed sugar mills functional, besides increasing the minimum support price to at least Rs 3,000 per tonne. Sugarcane being sustenance assured crop, government should promote the crop instead of discouraging.”
By: Adepu Mahender
