2023 flood effect: Sugar mill stops crushing operations after fall in cane yield across Yamunanagar

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Yamunanagar, April 6

The floods that occurred in Yamunanagar in July last year put a heavy cost on farmers and Saraswati Sugar Mills (SSM), one of the largest sugar mills in the country.

The mill management stopped its crushing operations on April 5, almost a month ahead of the last crushing season owing to the less availability of cane.

The cane yield during the current crushing season has been reported to be 15-20 per cent lower than last year’s yield per acre, causing huge financial loss to farmers.

According to information, the SSM has crushed 1,46.63 lakh quintals of sugarcane during this crushing season compared to 1,66.36 lakh quintals last year.

In the current crushing season, the mill management had started the crushing operations of the mill much earlier on October 31 keeping in view cane growers’ interests. However, heavy rain and floods during July 2023 had adversely impacted cane yield and production, causing huge loss to farmers as well as the sugar mill.

Satpal Kaushik, a farm leader, said the average yield was around 300 quintals per acre last year. However, this year, the yield was less than 250 quintals per acre due to the adverse effects of 2023 floods, disease in the crop and other reasons.

“Sugarcane growers have suffered a loss of about Rs 100 crore due to the lower yield this year. The Haryana Government should compensate the sugarcane farmers and announce the cane rate of Rs 450 per quintals for the next crushing season,” said Kaushik.

SSM senior vice-president (Cane) DP Singh said, “The sugarcane availability in the current season has been lower by 12 per cent compared to the last year. Our mill stopped the crushing operations during the peak sugar recovery period, which has affected the total sugar production and caused huge loss to the factory,” said Singh.

He said the cultivation of sugarcane crop was a better option compared to the paddy and wheat crops. He appealed to the sugarcane farmers to increase the cane area and assured them of all kinds of support. “The sugarcane crop is more remunerative compared to other crops,” said DP Singh.

Sugarcane yield down by 15-20%

• The cane yield during the current crushing season has been reported to be 15-20% lower than last year’s yield per acre, causing huge financial loss to farmers.
• Farm leader Satpal Kaushik says cane growers have suffered a loss of around Rs 100 crore due to lower yield this year.