Pakistan is striving hard to replace sugarcane crop with sugar-beet to increase per acre production, save water and maximise land utilisation, said Agriculture Development Commissioner (ADC) Anyatullah Khan. In a chat with Daily Business Recorder the ADC said that despite the fact that Pakistan was among the leading sugarcane producers in the world, yet during the last few years it had faced a sugar shortage.
Pakistan needs to increase sugar production from sugar beet in wake of serious water shortages in the country. While the entire country is suitable for the cultivation of sugar-beet by replacing sugarcane the climatic conditions of lower Sindh and some parts of Punjab are particularly favourable to the crop - conditions similar to Nile delta valley of Egypt, where commercial sugar beet production has been successful for many years, he added.
During the recent devastating floods the sugarcane farmers had suffered a loss of Rs 40 billion and its production is expected to decline to 49 million tons against the targeted production of 55 million tons, which would be sufficient for domestic needs, he added.
Sugar beet contributes about 20 percent of the world sugar production, with sugarcane contributing 80 percent. In Pakistan, sugar beet has been cultivated in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) for sugar production since the mid-sixties.
He said that all the other Kharif Crops are not replaceable, but sugarcane could easily be replaced with sugar beet, which would help maximisation of land use and consumes less water compared to sugarcane. One sugarcane crop needs water 30 times while sugar beet crop needs water only 8 times.
Sugarcane price is a provincial subject and in the current season Punjab has fixed sugarcane price at Rs 125 per 40 kg, while Sindh has not yet announced sugarcane price, the ADC said. A sugar mill was established in district Dera Ismail Khan two years back producing sugar from sugar beet with a capacity to produce 10,000 tons sugar annually, he said.
He said that the Ministry recommended new hybrid sugar beet seeds so that per acre production could be increased. Per hectare sugarcane output is about 500 maunds while sugar beet per hectare output is 600 maund, Anyatullah added. The sucrose level in sugar beet is about 11 percent compared to 9 percent in sugarcane.
Sugarcane is the main source of sugar production in the country and the industry is entirely dependent on the availability of sugarcane whereas the crop is a high delta crop, notorious for its lavish water use and occupies land for 12 months in Punjab and 18 months in Sindh, he said. If Pakistani farmers begin cultivating sugar beet as a comparative advantage, it is a low delta crop and occupies land for 4-5-months.
The government would provide incentives to farmers of sugar beet for the promotion of sugar production from sugar beet in wake of declining sugarcane production in the country and water shortages faced by the cane growers.
According to the official figures Pakistan is set to face 1.2 million tons of sugar shortage in 2010 and the gap is being filled through imports. The sugarcane production in Kharif season this year was 47.22 million tonnes compared to 50 million tonnes last year, while the cane cultivation area declined from 1.02 million hectares last year to 949,000 hectares in Kharif 2009-10. He said that the existing sugar mill industry could easily be transferred to produce sugar from sugar beet with minor extensions in the existing sugar mills.
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