Area under sugarcane cultivation is declining as farmers are shifting their cultivated lands to other cash and food crops. This was stated in a report of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). The report noted that area under sugarcane cultivation in Pakistan was 0.966 million hectares in the year 2004-05 being 11.8 percent less than the preceding year.
In current year, it has further declined by six percent from 0.966 million to 0.907 million hectares. Area under sugarcane cultivation reflected an increasing trend in the second half of the 1990's decade. It was at its peak in the year 2002-03, which gradually declined in the subsequent years.
This trend indicates that farmers are shifting their cultivated lands to other cash and food crops like cotton, sunflower etc. As in case of Sindh, the cultivated area of sunflower has increased due to shifting of sugarcane area.
There are number of factors responsible for decline in the plantation area of sugarcane. One is delay in the payments made by the mill owners. As farmers require funds for the crops, delay in the payments make extremely difficult for farmers to prepare their land and to purchase necessary inputs for the next crop. So they are moving to other Kharif crop, like cotton, etc.
Further, the sugarcane crop requires huge amount of water supply. Due to short supply of water, farmers prefer to cultivate those crops, which require less amount of water.
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