Why India?

• Despite of being one of the a highest producer of sugarcane In India the area under sugarcane
crop has increased from 2480 thousand hectares to 4550 thousand hectares. Among different
States, Uttar Pradesh (U.P) State the area is very large compared to other States.
• The CARG (Compound Annual Rate of Growth ) of sugarcane production of Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is more than that of the country’s rate of growth.
• In India the labor force is increasingly being reluctant to come forward for agricultural
operations because of the tough nature of the job and low remunerations.(Sakthi Sugars
Limite’2013)
• With growing production there is a need for mechanised harvester for following reasons:
1.Total cost implication on farmers / mills on cane harvesting alone is > Rs 10 k -12k crore in India,
which is about > 20-25% of the cane cost paid to the farmers by mills. This cost goes up to the
level of 35% in some cases where mills engage harvesting labors directly.
2.Mill cane department officials have to spend 50% of their time and energy for managing these
labors rather than spending time on cane development activities.
3.Machine can take care of absentee farmer unwilling to toil much on these harvesting activities.
Government run schemes like NREGS creates labour shortage for harvesting & other operations.
4.Even during extreme climates, machine takes care of harvesting.
 Choosing the Right State
• Till date about 160-170 machines (Maharashtra 120 + Karnataka 30 + TN 10-
15) are operational, majorly from companies like:- Bunmei, LCT Hansen, John
Deere -3520W, Case New Holland- 4000 series (Indian Sugar Mills
Association)

• The highest sugarcane producing states are Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh
The production of sugarcane has phenomenal increase these two States.
There is an increase in the share of these States in country’s total sugarcane
production.

• Although Maharashtra suffers from small scattered land holdings, the state
government has provided a good support for sugarcane farmers. It includes,
giving the loans at discounted rates, giving the mechanized harvester on rent
etc.