Cane production hit by pests, may reduce availability for sugar
The country’s sugarcane production in the current season (October 2024-September 2025) may drop from the initial estimate of 440 million tonnes, potentially reducing the availability of cane for sugar following reports of pest attacks in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka — the top three producers.
In the first two months of the current sugar season, that runs from October to September, sugar production in Uttar Pradesh was down at 12.90 lakh tonnes (lt) from 13.05 lt year-ago, while in Maharashtra it is 4.60 lt (13.50 lt) and in Karnataka 7 lt (11 lt), according to the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF).
However, the current figures on sugar production showing a decline is largely due to delayed start of sugarcane crushing and also lower operational mills in Maharashtra compared with last year.
Millers in Uttar Pradesh said that there may be a 10-15 per cent drop in production of cane in those areas where farmers had planted CO-0238 variety due to ‘red rot’ and also partly because of ‘top borer’ pest. Except a few districts in western UP, by and large ‘red rot’ appeared in all over the State this year, but the extent of infestation varied from district to district, said a chief general manger of a mill in charge of cane plantation. He said the Moradabad division has been worst affected as far as cane crop is concerned.
The Union agriculture ministry’s digital survey had earlier flagged the ‘red rot’ disease in CO-0238 variety in several districts of central and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, there are reports of three districts of Maharashtra affected by white grub.
White grubs and Red rots
In western Maharashtra, there are white grub and in some areas red rot diseases have appeared which millers think will lower the yield. “Though it is too early now, we have observed in the past fortnight that sugarcane yield is 10-15 tonne per hectare less than normal,” said a top official of an industry body.
Abhijit Ghorpade, a broker and sugar exporter in Kolhapur, noted that the sugarcane crop looks worse than last year. Lack of adequate sunlight during June to September had impacted the growth of sugarcane both in Maharashtra and Karnataka, which is seen resulting in lower yields.
In Karnataka, 79 factories have started crushing cane, as against 74 in the year-ago period.
Kurbur Shantakumar, President, Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association, said there have been instances of ‘white grub’ infestation in parts of Belgaum, Vijaynagar and Haveri districts.
Shantakumar noted that yields are down this year and the sugarcane production in Karnataka is likely to be around 5 crore tonnes, down from last year’s 5.65 crore tonnes. Besides the white grub disease, a section of growers also faced some water stress during the summer months, which is seen impacting the yields. There could be a marginal decline of 5-10 per cent in productivity, he added.
Rajgopal, Director of S Nijalingappa Sugar Institute in Belgaum, said some areas have faced the root grub infestation. Some millers are saying that the yields are likely to decline marginally, he added.
Production down
The Union Agriculture Ministry has pegged the production of sugarcane at 439.93 million tonnes (mt) for in 2024-25, down by 3 per cent from 453.16 mt due to lower acreage. However, sources said that the yield, which was earlier estimated for the current year higher at about 82 tonne/hectare against about 79 tonne/hectare in 2023-24, may be revised downward due to the pest attack incidents coming from several areas in different States. The Centre will revise the production estimate in the next update likely in February-March, the sources said.
The Indian Sugar & Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) is yet to start releasing the fortnightly update on sugar production. According to ISMA, the sugar production (including diversion towards ethanol, has been estimated at 333 lt as against 340.64 lt in 2023-24 season. The government has pegged the sugar output lower at around 320 lt, but enough to meet annual domestic demand of 290-295 lt due to a ‘good’ carryover stock from previous season.
The estimated diversion towards ethanol in 2023-24 was 21 lt due to restrictions, since lifted, and in the current season it is expected to be about 40 lt. The oil marketing companies have placed an order for 837 crore litres of ethanol to distilleries in the first round, out of which 235 crore litres from sugar-based plants – 185 crore litres to be made out of sugarcane juice/syrup, 44 crore litres out of B Heavy Molasses (BHM) and 6 crore litres from C Heavy Molasses (CHM).
The diversion towards ethanol and the use of feed stock decides the actual sugar production to be available for human consumption and food processing purpose. For instance, if ethanol is to be made from CHM, it leaves more sugar and if the biofuel is to be made out of syrup, there will be no sugar.