With cane flowering too soon, sugar production in Maharashtra takes a hit

Bendre had planted his 18-month-duration adsali cane harvest successful July 2023. It should person matured and been acceptable to harvest lone towards late-December 2024. But aboriginal flowering – marking the extremity of its vegetative maturation play and accumulation of sucrose (sugar) successful the stalks – chopped abbreviated his crop’s beingness cycle: “Those achromatic flowers are to beryllium blamed”.

Bendre’s isn’t an isolated lawsuit though, with aboriginal flowering of sugarcane reported crossed Maharashtra. When the 2024-25 play (October-September) began, the authorities was projected to nutrient astir 102 lakh tonnes (lt) of sugar, down from 110.20 lt successful 2023-24. The latest estimates, however, suggest a further driblet to 85-87 lt.

“I person seen sugarcane flowers successful March-April (when mills are adjacent to winding up operations), but ne'er successful November (at the commencement of the crushing season). Kadhich jhala na hota (This is unprecedented),” helium said.

For Bendre, his sugarcane producing flowers by late-October wasn’t conscionable an antithetic and untimely botanical phenomenon, it has impacted his cane yield, which averaged 35 tonnes per acre this time, from 42 tonnes successful 2023.

As connected January 28, Maharashtra mills had crushed 596.38 lt of cane and produced 53.72 lt of sweetener this play astatine an mean betterment of 9.01%. During the corresponding play of the 2023-24 season, they had crushed 673.88 lt and produced 64.27 lt with an mean 9.54% sweetener recovery.

B B Thombare, president of West Indian Sugar Mills Association, expects mills successful Solapur and the Marathwada-Khandesh regions to unopen for the play by mid-February, those successful cardinal Maharashtra (Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik) by mid-March, and the remainder (including successful Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur) by end-March.

“Our mills commenced crushing successful mid-November and the play usually extends till end-April/early-May. The existent 1 volition beryllium a precise abbreviated season,” helium told The Indian Express.

Rohan Paricharak, managing manager of Utopian Sugars, didn’t spot his mill crushing beyond January-end. “We antecedently assumed crushing astatine 4.5 lt, but present adjacent 3.75 lt seems difficult. There’s hardly overmuch cane disposable to crush,” helium said.

Thombre attributed the debased cane yields to 2 reasons. The archetypal was the extended drought from astir August 2023 till April-May 2024, erstwhile the already planted cane faced terrible moisture stress. This was followed by excess rainfall successful the 2024 southwest monsoon season, accompanied by precise small sunshine. “The resultant clime daze – archetypal from nary rainfall and past excessively overmuch of it, with the harvest successful the bedewed fields deprived of some aeration and daylight – is astir apt what triggered aboriginal flowering,” helium added.

Shivaji Sathe, a husbandman from the aforesaid colony arsenic Bendre, agreed with Thombre. “Flowering is simply a awesome that the cane harvest has matured. It volition not summation immoderate much value oregon accumulate much sweetener and is ripe for harvesting. But here, we person flowering happening successful October-November, erstwhile it shouldn’t beryllium earlier March-April. Vatavaran madhe badal (this is thing but clime change),” helium pointed out.

In the lawsuit of flowering, cane stops increasing and sucrose stored successful its stalks moves to the plant’s tip, wherever it is utilized for angiosperm development. It, then, leads to a nonaccomplishment of cane value arsenic good arsenic sucrose contented recoverable arsenic sugar.

Sathe, known arsenic a “champion” cane grower for mounting output records successful his area, is 1 of the fewer farmers whose harvest escaped excess aboriginal flowering. He someway ensured it did not endure from moisture stress, contempt the adjacent Bhima River drying up and the territory collector disconnecting energy supplies successful April-May 2024 to halt lifting of water. But adjacent Sathe could harvest lone 60 tonnes per acre from his 14-acres holding, compared to his 80 tonnes standard.

The 62-year-old has done a “post-mortem” of wherefore his yields person taken a hit. “It was lone owed to clime alteration and not immoderate responsibility successful my cultivation practices. In astir farmers’ fields, the cane did not get capable h2o during the expansive maturation play (about 100 days aft planting, erstwhile the stalks rapidly summation tallness and girth). But from June onwards, it poured astir continuously. We besides had fewer sunny days and acold nights, indispensable for sucrose accumulation period. That utmost operation caused aboriginal flowering, including successful my case,” helium said.

With little output successful Maharashtra and besides UP – the cane harvest determination has faced setbacks from reddish rot fungal illness and apical sprout borer pest attacks – the Centre is improbable to let immoderate further export of sweetener successful existent season.