Sugarcane no longer a sweet option for ryots
Sugarcane cultivation in Andhra Pradesh has sharply declined, from 1.25 lakh hectares in 2014 to just 40,000 hectares in 2024. High input costs, labor shortages, and sugar mill closures have forced farmers to shift to crops like paddy and maize. With only five sugar mills left, sugarcane farmers face uncertainty, pushing many to abandon the crop altogether.
Visakhapatnm: The state has recorded a steady decline in its sweetest crop, sugarcane, and its cultivation is expected to further decrease in the coming years. Sugarcane cultivation in the state hasn’t improved since 2014. Farmers cite high input costs, labour shortages, and the closure of sugar mills in the state as reasons for the significant drop in sugarcane cultivation.
Sugarcane was cultivated on 1.25 lakh hectares in Andhra Pradesh in 2014, and north coastal Andhra Pradesh (NCAP) emerged as the sugarcane region in the state. However, things have changed as many sugarcane growers have shifted to growing paddy, maize, and pulses due to rising input costs of sugarcane cultivation. After years of decline, the sugarcane cultivation area decreased to 40,000 hectares in the state in 2024.
The latest statistics from the agriculture department indicate that only 40 per cent of the total normal area of the sugarcane crop (50,000 hectares) for kharif-2024 sowing has been completed in Andhra Pradesh.
“Though sugarcane gives more returns when compared to paddy and other crops, the majority of the sugarcane growers shifted to other crops due to scarcity of labour, high cost of cultivation (especially for harvesting), and poor support from sugar mills, resulting in sugarcane cultivation in Andhra Pradesh declining to 40,000 hectares,” says Dr D Adilakshmi, principal scientist at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Anakapalle.
Chittoor district in Rayalaseema and Anakapalle district in north coastal Andhra Pradesh (NCAP), are considered the sugar bowls of the state, are in dire straits.Most of the sugar factories (cooperative and private) in the state have closed as successive govts failed to resolve grievances of management and farmers.
“With sugar factories in the state landing in trouble one after another, the cane growers from parts of the state are at their wits’ end as to when they would get their dues and who would buy their produce. A decade ago (in 2014), there were 29 sugar mills (10 cooperative and 19 private) in Andhra Pradesh, which came down to only five (one cooperative and four private) in 2024,” said Karri Appa Rao, president of AP Sugarcane Farmers Sangam.
The closure of the sugar mills was one of the major reasons for the shrinkage in cane cultivation in the state. As per the sugarcane crop concern, only some traditional jaggery makers are growing the sugarcane while others are shifting to other crops, said 62-year-old Appa Rao, who is also a sugarcane farmer in Anakapalle district.
“I have shifted to paddy and maize from sugarcane as there were no takers for the sweet produce with the closure of the Bhimasingi sugar factory. Soon, the jaggery makers will shift to other crops due to a shortage of labour and high input costs,” said P Srinu, a farmer in Vizianagaram district. The input cost for the production of one tonne of sugarcane has increased to 2,800 to 3,000, and hence the govt should fix it at 4,500 per tonne; only then will sugarcane farmers be safeguarded, he added.
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