Growth Rate of Area, Production and Productivity of Sugarcane Crop in India
Abstract
Sugarcane is an important commercial crop of India. It plays a crucial role for overall socio-economic development of farming community. India ranks second in production of sugarcane after Brazil.In India about 4.73-million-hectare land is occupied by sugarcane crop. Based on the importance of sugarcane crop, present study was conducted to know growth rate of area, production and yield of sugarcane in India and performance of sugarcane crop in major sugarcane producing states of India. The study was based on secondary source of data. Simple statistical tools like compound annual growth rate, percentage methods were used in this study. The study reveals that compound annual growth rate incase of area, production and yield showing a positive sign. The area under sugarcane cultivation is reported an increase of 5.63 percent in a duration of thirty years between 1985 and 2015and the sugarcane production was increased by 7.40 percent in the same period. The area and production of crop is showing a fluctuating trend because there are many factors which is responsible sugarcane cultivation like monsoon conditions, government price polices etc.
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Introduction
Sugarcane is the main source of sweeteners globally and holds a prominent position as a cash crop. India occupies second position in Sugarcane cultivation after Brazil. Climatic condition of India is favorable for sugarcane cultivation therefore the production of Sugarcane spread across the country. There are two different agro-climatic regions of sugarcane cultivation in India namely tropical and sub-tropical. The tropical regions include the states of Maharashtra, Gujrat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Kerala. Tropical region records the high sugar recovery due to the long sunshine hours, cool nights with clear sky and the latitudinal position of the area favorable for sugar accumulation. The subtropical region includes the states namely Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana and Punjab. Climatic conditions are generally variable depending upon the season and sometimes within the seasons also. Sugarcane crop faces all the season in a year. Uttar Pradesh is having largest area under sugarcane crop. However, the highest sugar recovery can be obtained in the Maharashtra.
It is a major source of raw material not only sugar industry but other allied group of industries. Sugarcane and its byproducts provide employment opportunities to large number of people and responsible for socio-economic transformation of farming community. Sugar industry has been instrumental in resource mobilization, employment generation, income generation and creating social infrastructure in rural areas, in other words sugar industry has facilitated and accelerated pace of rural industrialization. Production of Sugarcane in India is not uniform, fluctuating trend of production has been found. This is due to the several problems faced by sugarcane industry, such as Low yield of Sugarcane, Prices fixed by government, delay in payments, unpredictable monsoon condition etc. (Gaikwad, C. 2017).Water scarcity is the major problem faced by sugarcane farmers in India, the major reason for low production and low productivity is the unpredictable monsoon condition. So, the present study will examine the growth of area, production and productivity of sugarcane crop in India and to analyze the performance of major sugarcane producing states in India.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it was found that the area under sugarcane was found tobe increased by 5.63 percent over thirty years (1995 to 2015), whereas production and yield increased at 7.40 percent and 1.68percent. It is clear from the study that trend of sugarcane cultivation in India is fluctuating, no uniform pattern of growth has observed. This is due to many problems faced by sugarcane farmers includes the problem of scarcity of water, sugarcane pricing problems etc. Sugarcane crop requires regular supply of larger quantity of water for its growth. Availability of Sufficient water mainly depends on rainfall. Fluctuation in seasonal rainfall in India adversely affects the production of sugarcane. Sugarcane being along duration crop which requires more irrigation. Poor water availability leads to drying of crop and yield loss. Other major reason of fluctuation in sugarcane crop is sugarcane pricing policies, major changes in agricultural product prices from year to year affect product supply and producers' decisions about production. With the huge stakes involved in the cane crop and in the sweet commodity, government policies relating to the sector have always been arbitrary, with politicians formulating rules not on the basis of sound economic principles, but under the pressure of different interest and then resulted policies could provide benefit to different stakeholders. Despite of large area under sugarcane crop farmers are still using traditional methods and equipment in sugarcane cultivation. The lack of usage of mechanization in India is due to the small size of land holding, improper crop spacing, and lack of finance. Some machines are worthy, and these are not affordable to farmers but introduction of costly machines through custom hiring centers can help the farmers to get the benefits of machinery.
