Kolhapur: Farmers in -growing areas are increasingly worried as flowering in standing crops is leading to lower cane weight and reduced sugar recovery, adding to their financial stress, reported The Times of India.
According to the Maharashtra Sugar Commissionerate, the crushing season has begun at 191 sugar factories with a combined daily crushing capacity of 10,03,050 metric tonnes. By December 21, these mills had crushed 44.606 million metric tonnes of sugarcane and produced 38.021 million quintals of sugar.
Atul Save, a sugarcane farmer from Kuditre, said crops that survived excess rainfall, cloudy conditions, floods, and pest attacks are now facing losses due to flowering. He said the stalks tend to break and lose weight, which directly affects farmers’ earnings. Save added that farmers have urged sugar factories to begin harvesting early, as flowering cane continues to lose both weight and sugar content the longer it remains in the field.
Experts from the sugar industry said the unusually high level of flowering this year is linked to frequent weather changes, unseasonal rains that continued until late November, and delays in the start of the crushing season.
Sachin Patil, secretary of the Vishwasrao Naik Sugar Factory in Shirala, Sangli district, explained that flowering marks the stage when sugarcane growth stops and the crop gradually becomes hollow. He said rainfall that began in mid-May and lasted until November delayed harvesting, especially since sugarcane takes 12 to 16 months to mature depending on the variety. Patil said flowering could cause farmers to lose around five per cent of their yield.
Adding to the concern is the difficulty farmers face in repaying advances taken by cane cutters from sugar factories, as the crushing season started late. The problem is more severe in agricultural regions affected by river floods.
Dr Ashokrao Pisal, associate dean at Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Agricultural College in Kolhapur, said that when mature sugarcane remains in the field for more than one and a half to two months, the stalks begin to burst and turn hollow. He said the sugar inside starts breaking down into simpler forms, which reduces the amount of sugar that can be extracted.
