For Uttar Pradesh Indian Sugar Mills Association's (ISMA) September 28 advance estimates had pegged sugar production this season at 76.60 lt, up from 68.55 lt in 2015-16. But as on April 18, mills in UP had already produced 85.27 lt. With 52 out of the 116 factories still running, the final output could touch 88 lt – an all-time-high, surpassing the previous 2006-07 record of 84.75 lt.
The above production achievement hasn’t come due to any increase in sugarcane area.
The higher output by mills is only because of average sugar-to-cane recovery going up, from 9.47 per cent in 2006-07 to a likely 10.6 per cent in the current season. That, in turn, owes itself to Co 0238, a cane variety which gives both higher yields to farmers and also more sugar from every tonne crushed by mills.
Read more of this sweet success story by Harish Damodaran in The Indian Express.....
