Status of sugarcane cultivation in Kerala vis-a-vis product diversification options

Abstract

Sugarcane cultivation in Kerala had a glorious past.Till 1920’s sugarcane cultivation was in limited areas bordering Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu and later it spread to other parts of the state with the establishment of sugar factories during 1930’s and 1960’s. Unfortunately, the success of the sugar industry was short-lived and all three sugar mills closed due to huge losses incurred. Nowadays sugarcane is majorly cultivated in Idukki District (78%) followed by Palakkad District. In other districts like Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, and Kannur, cultivation is to a limited extent.The main reason for dwindling cultivation includes lack of processing mills, unavailability of skilled labourers, lack of government assistance and lack of suitable processing technologies. According to the information gathered from the survey, sugarcane cultivation is the backbone of small-scale jaggery production units existing in specific areas of the state, thus focus may be given to sustain the cultivation. Though some farmers are interested to cultivate, the marketing of the produce and lack of proper technologies for product diversification is hindering their interest. Various technologies developed at ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute Research Centre Kannur for the product diversification will help sugarcane growers to increase their income and to retain their interest in cultivation.