Environment

·        After a five-year gap, Maharashtra has overtaken Uttar Pradesh (UP) to regain its position as India’s top sugar producer. It is due to three factors:

1.     Bountiful Rainfall: Maharashtra has been receiving enough rainfall since the 2019 southwest monsoon season (June-September) filling up of reservoirs and recharging groundwater aquifers.

2.      Higher yields from farmers taking extra care of their crop: Farmers have harvested an average per-acre cane yield of 60 tonnes this year, as against 50 tonnes in 2020-21.

3.      Huge jump in “unregistered” cane cultivation: In 2020-21, the state reported a total area of 11.42 lakh hectares (lh) planted under cane while this year it increased to 12.4 lh.

·        This means that there is un-harvested cane still in the fields and mills will continue to crush till the first week of June who closed their operations by April-end.

·        It isn’t Maharashtra alone. Karnataka, too, is poised to produce a record 60 lt of sugar this year, while Gujarat’s 12 .

1.     lt would be its best since the 12.35 lt of 2010-11. Reasons for UP’s sugar production declining after the 2019-20:

2.     Diversion of cane for making ethanol this year: UP has, in fact, become India’s largest ethanol producer, while also achieving the highest blending-in-petrol ratio among all states .

3.     Crop loss from excess rains and water-logging in many low-lying canegrowing areas of eastern UP:

4.     Variety of sugarcane planted in UP: 87% of UP’s cane area being planted under a single variety, Co-0238, which has become susceptible to red rot fungal disease.

·        UP’s sugar output falling to a five-year-low in 2021-22 has, however, has been more than offset by Maharashtra’s and Karnataka’s soaring to all-time-highs.

·        However interestingly, this is hasn’t resulted in any price drop.

·        It is due to exports having crossed 75 lt – surpassing the 71.9 lt record of 2020-21 – and are likely to reach 100 lt in the current sugar year.