Maharashtra’s 2020-21 sugar season has come to an finish, with the state generating 106.3 lakh tonne of sugar just after crushing 1,012 lakh tonne of cane with a sugar recovery of 10.50%, officials of the Maharashtra Sugar Commissionerate mentioned.
Around 190 sugar mills, like 95 cooperative and 95 private mills, participated in the crushing season, operating for an typical of 140 days. The state had made a record 107 lakh tonne of sugar in the 2018-19 season.
Sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad mentioned sugarcane was cultivated on 11.42 lakh hectares for the 2020-21 season, compared to 8.22 lakh hectares in 2019-20. The planting region for the 2021-22 season is but to be assessed, he mentioned. According to rough estimates, the state could see cane cultivation on at least 12 lakh hectares, he mentioned, adding that farmers are shifting from other crops to sugarcane for the reason that of assured earnings.
Kolhapur, Ahmednagar and Pune regions accounted for more than 50% of the state’s total production. Drought-prone regions of Aurangabad, Nanded, Amravati and Nagpur made 197 lakh quintal sugar, which is 19% of the total state production. A total of 53 mills had began crushing operations in these drought-prone regions.
Around 37 mills from Kolhapur crushed 231 lakh tonne of cane to generate 277 lakh quintals of sugar with a sugar recovery price of 12%, whilst 31 mills from Pune crushed 231 lakh tonne of cane and made 253 lakh tonne of sugar with a recovery of 10.97%. This season, 43 mills from Solapur crushed 176 lakh tonne sugarcane to generate 165 lakh tonne of sugar with a recovery price of 9.38%.
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Gaikwad mentioned that as of May 15, sugar mills in the state owed farmers `1,458.73 crore just after creating fair and remunerative price tag (FRP) payments of `21,429.35 crore (practically 93.63% of the total FRP payments owed to farmers). The state has issued income recovery certificate (RRC) orders to 19 mills that failed to make even element payments to farmers. Gaikwad mentioned RRCs will be issued to other mills from Marathwada.
Following the orders, district collectors have the authority to attach assets, like the sugar mills and the generate. Funds collected from the auction can be used to spend farmers’ dues.
The commissioner mentioned sugar stocks with the mills could be in the variety of 50 lakh tonne as on date. This year, about 10 lakh tonne of sugar was diverted towards ethanol and the target is to divert 15 lakh tonne in the next season, he mentioned.