Grub infestation may be the fix to India's sugar problem its farmers do not want

Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals

17/10/2018 08:27

* White grubs infest cane crop in Maharashtra, Karnataka
    * Scanty rainfall accelerates white grub infestation
    * India's 2018/19 sugar output seen at 32.4 mln T vs pvs
estimate
of 35.5 mln T- trade body
    * Maharashtra's sugar output seen at 9.7 mln T vs pvs
estimate of
11.5 mln T-trade body
    * India's 2019/20 sugar output seen at 29.2 mln T-trade body

    By Rajendra Jadhav
    WADWAL, India, Oct 17 (Reuters) - India may have found a fix
to its sugar problem but the answer will not make its cane
farmers happy.
    After a bumper crop, sugar stockpiles in the country, the
world's second-largest producer of the sweetener, have more than
doubled since last year. With another record crop expected in
the current growing season, India is subsidising sugar exports,
threatening to glut the market even as prices  SBc1   LSUc1 
fell to the lowest in 10 years on Sept. 27.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WP33P
    But, an infestation of white grubs in Maharashtra, India's
second-biggest sugar producing state, and neighbouring
Karnataka, the third-largest producer, could mean sugar output
for the 2018/19 crop year will be 9 percent less than earlier
estimates. 
    While the lower output could reduce India's 10 million
tonnes of sugar inventories, the grubs that feed on the roots of
cane plants can only be eradicated by pulling out the crop,
leaving the field fallow and then replanting, adding to the
stress of farmers already dealing with meagre harvests.
    "From August, cane stalks started wilting despite timely
irrigation. When we tried to find out the reason, we found white
grubs were eating shoots," farmer Sopan Salunkhe said, uprooting
a cane to show mottled shoots pierced by white grubs, the larvae
of a beetle species.
    Salunkhe may only harvest 20 tonnes of cane in the 2018/19
marketing season that started on Oct. 1, down from 140 tonnes a
year earlier. His entire 2.5-acre (1 hectare) farm in the
village of Wadal, about 400 km (249 miles) southeast of Mumbai
has been affected. 
    Throughout the interior of Maharashtra more than four dozen
farmers told Reuters they are expecting lower yields this season
because of the grubs that have thrived following
lower-than-normal rainfall in August and September. Typically
the heavy monsoon rains flood the fields drowning the grubs. 
    The June to September monsoon provided 23 percent less
rainfall than normal this year, according to state government
data. India's biggest sugar producing state, Uttar Pradesh, also
received slightly less rainfall than normal but the grubs have
not infested crops there.
    The National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd
(NFCSF), the trade association for cooperative sugar mills that
operate 50 percent of the country's processing capacity, has
lowered its production forecast for the 2018/19 crop year to
32.4 million tonnes, including 9.7 million tonnes for
Maharashtra.
    That is down from an earlier national forecast of up to 35.5
million tonnes and up to 11.5 million tonnes for Maharashtra.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UD410
    "We are revising output numbers downward due to severe pest
attack," Prakash Naiknavare, the NFCSF managing director said.
    
        
    UNDERGROUND THREAT
    Sporadic pest infestations have been reported in the past on
a smaller scale, but the current outbreak is for the first time
so widespread that it will impact overall sugar production, said
B. B. Thombare, president of the Western India Sugar Mills
Association.
    "There was belief among farmers that cane is a sturdy crop
and can withstand pest and disease attacks. That perception has
broken," Thombare said.
    Farmers throughout Maharashtra are struggling to control it.
    "We tried to kill the grubs by spraying kerosene, salt and
various pesticides but couldn't as the worms reside nearly a
foot below the ground," said Ashok Giramkar, a farmer from Dalaj
village in Pune district, nearly 300 km (186 miles) southeast of
Mumbai, who was feeding wilted cane to cattle.
    In June to July, white grub worms remain small enough to be
killed with pesticides, but they are now fully grown and can
survive underground even after different pesticides have been
applied, said R.G. Yadav, an entomologist at Vasantdada Sugar
Institute, a research body in Pune, Maharashtra.
    The grub has also been reported in neighbouring Karnataka,
said an official with the state agriculture department that
asked to remain unidentified.
    "Many farmers could not take ratoon crop due to the pest
infestation. They have to uproot the crop after harvesting," the
official said.
    The ratoon crop is the root stub of cane after the first
harvest that usually remains in the ground for a second harvest,
but now must be removed to kill off the grubs.
    The grub infestation and lower rainfall have curtailed cane
plantings for the 2019/20 season, said the NFCSF's Naiknavare,
adding that next year's sugar production could fall to 29.2
million tonnes.
    To be sure, this year's sugar output forecast of 32.4
million tonnes would set a record for a second straight year.
But, the lower-than-estimated production could help cut the
ample inventories in India and limit exports, said a
Mumbai-based trader with a global trading company. 
    India's mills signed deals earlier this month to export raw
sugar for the first time in three years after securing
government subsidies designed to cut the inventory buildup.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WC3I7 
    "The market has priced in huge exports from India, but that
amount will be lower than anticipated. With lower production,
mills' surplus for exports will also fall," the trader said.

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
India's raw sugar exports are seen hitting over 10-year highs in
2018-19    https://tmsnrt.rs/2ObGrXw
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger)
 ((rajendra.jadhav@thomsonreuters.com; +91-22-6180-7153 ;
Reuters Messaging:
rajendra.jadhav.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))