Sugarcane farming not sweet anymore in Kendrapara  

KENDRAPARA:  Sugarcane growers of Kendrapara are a worried lot with cultivated area witnessing a rapid decline in the district. Farmers say closure of mills and limited access to markets are the main reasons behind the dip as government promises for creating processing opportunities have remained unfulfilled. 

A major cash crop in the district, sugarcane was once grown in abundance three decades back. Cultivation area now has shrunk to around 5000 hectare this year from 15,000 hectare a decade back. Garadapur, Marsaghai, Derabishi, Pattamundai, Aul, Rajkanika and Mahakalapada blocks are the major growing areas where farmers take to sugarcane cultivation.

“Gone are the days when we used to earn good money by selling the harvest to sugar mills and in open market. Closure of the sugar mill in Krushnadaspur village three decades ago dealt a major blow to farmers who have now switched to other crops. If the trend continues, this crop will vanish from the district altogether,” says Akshay  Behera, a sugarcane farmer of Pattamundai.

To woo sugarcane farmers, during the last  election , Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other leaders had promised to  establish a sugar mill in the district.  But they failed to keep their promises after the poll, rues Umesh Chandra Singh, president of the district unit of Krusak Sabha.

Odisha requires about 2.21 lakh metric tonne of sugar annually but only two of the eight sugar mills are now operational in the State, said a reply by Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain in the State Assembly. It is high time government reopened the defunct sugar mills while establishing new ones to improve the plight of growers, Singh suggests.

Chief District Agriculture Officer Ashok Mahasuar acknowledges that lack of proper marketing and closure of sugar mills have contributed to dwindling sugarcane cultivation in Kendrapara.