Sugarcane acreage down over 5% so far due to drought in Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: Area under sugarcane has declined by 5.24 per cent to 40.30 lakh hectares so far this year due to drought in Maharashtra and Karnataka, Agriculture Ministry said today.

Pre-sowing of some crops like sugarcane in the 2013-14 kharif season, which normally begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June, has begun.

As per the preliminary data released by the Agriculture Ministry, farmers have sown sugarcane in 40.30 lakh hectares as on May 8, against 45.54 lakh hectares in the year-ago.

Maximum drop in sugarcane acreage was seen in Maharashtra, the country's second biggest grower, where farmers planted cane only in 5.11 lakh hectares so far due to water shortage following drought.

The state had sugarcane coverage of 9.37 lakh hectares in the same period last year.

Drought-hit Karnataka also witnessed a fall in sugarcane acreage to 3.27 lakh hectares from 3.65 lakh hectares in the review period.

Similarly the sugarcane acreage in Uttar Pradesh, the country's largest sugarcane grower, declined to 19.20 lakh hectares as on May 8 from 19.20 lakh hectares in the same period corresponding year.

The likely fall in the overall sugarcane acreage is expected to bring down total sugar output in the country.

In the 2012-13 marketing year (October-September), sugar production is expected to decline to 24.5 million tonnes, as against a little over 26 million tonnes in the previous year.

However, the production this year is estimated to be higher than the country's annual demand of 22 million tonnes.