A government panel is mulling a plan to disincentivise sugarcane cultivation in regions facing water scarcity, Financial Express reports.
To this end, the task force headed by NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand is considering a proposal of giving Rs 6,000 per acre in a year as an incentive to farmers to dissuade them from growing sugarcane in states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, a source told the paper.
The task force is looking at two key things- reduction of the impact of sugarcane cultivation involving inefficient use of groundwater and bringing India's sugar industry in line with the global markets.
The proposal under consideration comes in the wake of the rising fiscal burden and water table depletion in areas where farmers are choosing to cultivate water-intensive crops despite low irrigation coverage. The idea is to bring down the area under the crop by around 20 percent, the report added.
Sugarcane continues to be cultivated by farmers in such regions due to the support prices offered, assured market availability and the associated profitability ensured by the central and state governments.
Sugarcane farming continues to occupy around 48 lakh hectares of agricultural land since the past five years, a number which stood at 55 lakh hectare in the year 2018-19. Uttar Pradesh tops the charts in terms of area under sugarcane cultivation, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Bihar. Nearly 60 percent of the available irrigation water in India is used up in cultivating two of the most water-guzzling crops- rice and sugarcane.
The sugar industry in India has been struggling to clear piling cane dues in recent years. Even with the government's help through packages- loans and interest subsidies, arrears pile up at regular intervals every time the sugar prices in the market drop. As of mid-July this year, cane dues were at an alarming high of Rs 17,518 crore. Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for nearly 57 percent of the arrears.
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