Reduce production of sugar and diversify agriculture towards energy and power sectors: Union Minister

Source: The post is based on the article “Reduce production of sugar and diversify agriculture towards energy and power sectors: Union Minister” published in PIB on 27th August 2022.

What is the News?

The Union Minister has said that India needs to reduce the production of sugar and diversify agriculture towards the energy and power sectors.

Note: Agriculture employs 65% to 70% of our population. But our agricultural growth rate is only 12%-13%. 

Overproduction of Sugar

Over-production of sugar is a problem for the economy. For instance, this year, India’s requirement was 280 lakh tonnes of sugar. However, the production was more than 360 lakh tonnes.

The drought in Brazil affected sugar production there and hence Indian sugar was in demand globally.  

But this situation will not remain the same next year and this overproduction will be detrimental to farmers as it would bring the price of the crops down thus causing losses to the farmers.

What is the solution then to reduce the overproduction of sugar?

In order to find a permanent solution to address the problem of excess sugar, the government is encouraging sugar mills to divert excess sugarcane to ethanol.

This would not only reduce India’s import dependency on crude oil, and promote ethanol as a fuel which is indigenous & non-polluting, but will also enhance the income of sugarcane farmers.