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A shortage of sugarcane may make 30 sugar mills stop production, said Maharashtra Co-operatives Minister Jayprakash Mundda.

Mundda said that while annual requirement of sugar cane is 4,00,000 metric tonnes, only 2,75,000 mt have been harvested this season. The resultant shortage, he said, might force a quarter of all mills in Maharashtra to stop production.

The scarcity of water, the low price of sugarcane and the presence of important sugarcane has disheartened farmers in Maharashtra, especially in Vidarbha and Marathwada, he said, citing some reasons for the drop in production.

In 1995-96 the state sugar recorded sugar production worth more than Rs 6 billion rupees. But during the same time, 1.37 million mt of sugar cane was not used and small farmers took the brunt. They had to burn the surplus sugar cane, Mundda said.

Though regions in Dhule, Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhai and Bakana have recorded a shortfall, enough sugarcane is produced in Pune, Solapur and Latur districts to satisfy the demand, Mundda said.

Interestingly, the Union government has asked state trading corporation to import sugar for public distribution when there is a sugar surplus in India. The worried sugar lobby has taken up the issue but the government has yet to react.

Compiled by Prasanna Zore from the Marathi media