Cane farmers shift to other crops

SHIRDI: The crisis faced by the sugar industry in the state at present is gradually weaning away the farmers from this once favoured crop to other cash crops. This change has led to a drastic decline in the total areas of sugarcane cultivation in the state.
Experts say that if this trend continues, the sugarcane production during the next crushing season may go down by 40 per cent.This would certainly further compound the problems of the sugar industry.
For the past five decades, sugarcane cultivation has been the mostfavoured crop by farmers having irrigation facilities. Now, many farmers from Ahmednagar district and other areas in the sugar belt have switched over to other cash crops including pomegranates, guavas, grapes and vegetable crops like potatoes and tomatoes.
The change is also palpable in Pravaranagar area in Ahmednagar district, the cradle of the co-operative sugar factories in the country. What is most striking is that even some directors of the Padmashri Vitthalrao Vikhe co-operative sugar factory have switched over to other cash crops.
The Vikhe sugar factory every year crushes eight to 10 lakh metric tonnes of sugarcane. This factory will, however, hardly have two lakh metric tonnes sugarcane during the next crushing season. The Sangamner, Sanjeevani, Kopargaon cooperative sugar factories in the district too are facing a similar predicament.
Hanumant Rokade, one of the directors of the Pravara fruits and vegetable co-operative society, has gradually brought down his sugarcane cultivation in the past three years and has instead started producing potatoes and other cash crops. “Potatoes require far less water as compared to sugarcane and this crop can be harvested within three months,� he said. Potato crop provides an income of around Rs 50,000 per acre, he said.