Lower acreage to lift cane prices for 2013-14 season

PUNE: Vilas Dhage, a farmer in Pune district, kept his four acres ready for planting sugar cane in July and awaited rains for three months. In the end, water shortage forced him to plant cane only on one acre.

"I know cane prices will be at their record levels in 2013-14. But I had to give up the idea of planting cane on four acres. There is no water in this region," said Dhage.

As the sugar industry in Maharashtra, the top sugar producer, is still trying to come to terms with the decline in cane availability for the 2012-13 crushing season which is just a month away, it has already accepted that the 2013-14 season might turn out to be one of the most difficult years for the industry.

"We took a review of plantation for the 2013-14 season. The situation is grimmer than this year as there is no new plantation of cane in the last three to four months due to a drought," said Maharashtra co-operation minister Harshvardhan Patil recently.

Cane is planted three times a year. The July-to-September sowing is carried out in Maharashtra and Karnataka and is known as the adsali crop, which matures in 16 to 18 months. The pre-seasonal crop is sown in October and November while suru sowing takes place in January and February.

Adsali accounts for about 30% to 35% of total production in Maharashtra and gives higher sugar yield as it stays for a longer period on the fields.

Though there is no official assessment of adsali sowing yet, estimates of a decline in area range from 10% to 50%.

Shivajirao Nagawade, vice-chairman Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation, said, "The sowing of adsali cane has not been done in talukas like Shrigonda, Parner, Karjat and Shirur in Ahmednagar district. Cane availability in the 2013-14 season will be less than the current year."

Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) released its estimate of cane and sugar production based on satellite images on Tuesday. According to IMSA, cane acreage for 2012-13 is estimated at 53.54 lakh hectares which is about 2% higher than last year.

Area under cane in Maharashtra is 9.78 lakh hectares, including the adsali crop for the 2013-14 harvesting season.