Floods in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra threaten sugarcane crops

22-Jul-2024 11:12 AM

New Delhi. Sugarcane crops are likely to be damaged due to heavy rains in the country's two top sugar producing states - Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, due to flooding in the fields and severe floods.

In about one and a half dozen districts of Uttar Pradesh, devastating floods have been going on for the last several days, which is not only damaging the Kharif crops but also hindering new sowing. On the other hand, due to the activity of monsoon in various parts of Maharashtra, not only is there heavy rain, but the Meteorological Department has also expressed the possibility of rain continuing there for the next two days.

An alert for heavy rain has also been issued for Gujarat. Sugarcane and sugar are produced in good quantity there. 

There is a possibility of heavy rain in the southern states - Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as well as Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Agricultural experts say that normal rainfall proves beneficial for the sugarcane crop because it is expected to increase the average yield rate of the crop and the average recovery rate of sugar from sugarcane, but there is a possibility of damage to the crop due to water logging in the fields for a long time and especially due to flood water. 

At the national level, sugarcane production area has increased to 57.68 lakh hectares which is 63 thousand hectares more than the sowing area of ​​57.05 lakh hectares during the same period last year.

However, at one time the sugarcane area was 1.43 lakh hectares ahead of last year. Now sowing has reached its final stage.