The sugarcane commissioner of Maharashtra was expecting a production of 12.8 million tonnes from the state.
More than two dozen farmers of the state said last week that due to early ripening, flowers are coming in the sugarcane crop.
Avinash Thombare, a sugarcane grower from Satara district, showing the crop with white flowers, said, “The sugarcane crop is 10 months old now, but it started flowering last month and lost weight.”
Lweens Virgino said the widespread early flowering, indicative of crop stress, was driven by low solar radiation during the sugarcane growth period, due to abnormal cloudy conditions during the last half of the monsoon season.
Sugar mills in Maharashtra and neighboring Karnataka are facing a shortage of sugarcane and at least 17 mills in the country have stopped operations so far, while another two dozen have been closed since the end of February, according to a government official. Earlier closure was expected. Designated.
Another government official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the possibility of additional exports has been closed due to the continuous decline in production estimates.
India has allowed sugar mills to export only 6.1 million tonnes of sugar in the current season, lower than the record 11 million tonnes exported last season.
The country mainly exports sugar to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sudan, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates.