Farmers switching from wheat-paddy cycle to sugarcane
Despite a bumper wheat crop this year, an increase in sugarcane acreage is expected this year as farmers in the region claim that the old wheat-paddy cycle is no more profitable.
With the sugarcane sowing season at its peak, officials of the state agriculture department are predicting that this year, the area under sugarcane cultivation is likely to go from 1 lakh hectare to 1.25 lakh hectare. According to farmers, the biggest reason behind the development is the steep fall in prices of the Basmati (long grain varieties of paddy) since 2013 because of which farmers are not finding the wheatpaddy cycle profitable.
“We have to switch to sugarcane because of the government’s poor pricing policy for wheat and paddy. For the past three years, there have been no takers of Basmati in the mandis and farmers are left to the mercy of private traders, who purchase the produce at their own rates,” said Desraj Kaushing, a farmer of Yunishpur village of Karnal district, who has sown five acres of sugarcane for the first time. Another farmer, Raghubir Singh, rued, “Karnal’s basmati had once created a new identity of Haryana in the world, but now this crop is not profitable due to lack of support from the government.” Ratan Mann, a farmer leader, said the nominal increase in the MSP of parimal varieties of paddy and wheat and lack of pricing system for paddy is the main reason why farmers are switching to sugarcane. “This year, the per acre production of wheat is around 23-24 quintals, but the MSP of wheat is ₹1,625 and it does not even cover the production cost,” he added. On the other hand, sugarcane growers are reaping a rich harvest and earning around ₹1 lakh from per acre cultivation. Following the increase in sugar prices the state government made a hike of ₹10 per quintal in the state advisory prices of sugarcane taking it to ₹310, ₹315 and ₹320 for lateral.