Sugar is one of the oldest commodities in the world. The Indian sugar industry plays a leading role in global sugar market, with India being the world’s second largest producer after Brazil producing nearly 15 and 25 % of global sugar and sugarcane, respectively.
Sugar can be extracted from a variety of plant sources. The most important sugar crops are sugarcane and sugar beets. Some minor commercial sugar crops include the date palm, sorghum, and the sugar maple.
In India however, sugar is primarily extracted from Sugar Cane.
Sugarcane is a grass type plant with a thick stem; the sweet sucrose content is in the stem of the plant.
Sugarcane is a thick, tall grass and is propagated from cuttings, rather than from seed and once planted, a stand of cane can be harvested several times. Sugarcane is harvested by hand or mechanically.
Climatic conditions that are necessary for the growth of sugar cane:
- Sugarcane cultivation requires a tropical or subtropical climate, with lots of rainfall.
- Temperature of 20 to 26 degrees is essential for the growth of sugarcane.
- Rainfall of 100-150 cm, which means sugarcane requires a high amount of rainfall for its growth.
- Sugarcane requires fertile alluvial soil for its growth. It also grows in loamy soil and black lava soil found in Southern parts of India.
Places in India where sugarcane is grown are Uttar Pradesh (UP), Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh (AP). In India, Uttar Pradesh is the leading producer of sugarcane in India.
However, Tamil Nadu in South India provides a high yield per hectare of Sugarcane.
In North India, sugarcane is cultivated before winter to protect it from frost. In the Punjab to Bihar belt, sugarcane is cultivated extensively due to the fertile alluvial soil deposited by the rivers each year, and due to adequate amount of rainfall.
Advantage of sugarcane cultivation in South India.
South India usually does not experience ‘Loo’ (hot and dry summer wind), which is common in the North. Loo retards the growth of sugarcane and also reduces the sucrose content. South India is also free from frost.
South India has a maritime climate (moderate climate) as its surrounded by oceans. These factors make South India a better place to cultivate sugarcane, and as a result, the per hectare yield of sugarcane is more in the South.
Despite the advantages, sugar cultivation in South India is not so high because it faces stiff competition from oilseeds, which are more popular in South India.
In recent years, sugar mills have been shifting in the southern and western states, especially in Maharashtra; this is because the cane produced here has higher sucrose content. The cooler climate also ensures a longer crushing season. Moreover, the cooperatives are more successful in these states.
Sowing and harvesting methods
Sugarcanes normally attain a height of 3.5 metres or more. when they reach this height, they need a good amount of water to sustain their growth.
There are various methods to cultivate sugarcane.
1) Sett method: In this method, cuttings are taken from the old sugarcane plants and then they are sowed in the fields.
2) Ratooning method: In this method, ratoons or the bottom part of the sugarcane plant is left as is (only the above part is cut); the ratoons then grow to full size.
- Advantage: Saves labour as the ratoons are already present and they will grow by themselves. This is a cheaper method of cultivating sugarcane.
- Disadvantage: After 2 or 3 times, the thickness of the sugarcanes reduce and the sucrose content also reduces. Susceptible to diseases; easier for pests to attack the plant.
3) Seeds: This method is now more or less obsolete and very few people use this method to grow sugarcanes.
Sugarcanes are harvested manually, which means labourers cut it manually using sickles (C-shaped knives). While cutting the sugarcane, they make sure that they cut sugarcane as near to the soil as possible. This is because the base of the sugarcane has the highest sucrose content.
Harvesting is done before the flowers of the sugarcane crop start maturing.
After the sugarcanes are harvested (cut), they are taken to the mills for processing, as quickly as possible, otherwise, the water inside dries up and reduces the sucrose content, which means less amount of sugar will be produced. So the sugarcanes are processed as fast as possible.
Problems of sugarcane cultivators:
- Sugarcane is a soil exhausting crop. It exhausts the fertility of the soil where it is cultivated, as it absorbs all the nutrients from the soil. As a result, farmers have to add fertilizers to the soli, which increases the cost of production of sugarcane.
- The farms where sugarcane is cultivated are usually far away from the mills where the processing happens. As a result, sugar content reduces.
- The cost of transportation is an additional expense for the cultivators.
- It is an annual crop. It takes around 8-9 months to grow, so the farmers can only grow it once a year.
- Prices of sugarcane are fixed by the government, even though the farmers may have spent more on the cultivation.
Academic questions on Sugar and Sugarcane
ICSE Class X Geography Project:
Q. A brief study of agriculture based industry highlighting sugarcane industry
Introduction
Sources & sugar Industry
Manufacturing Process – Production to Packaging
Challenges of Sugar Industry
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