Coimbatore: Farmers have lost interest in sugarcane cultivation in the district. After the drought of 2016, the area under cultivation shrinks by 50%. The farmers have cited the water and labour shortage, lack of sugar mills and high labour cost the reasons behind turning away from cane cultivation.
According to the news report published in The Times of India, as per Agriculture department, the area under cane cultivation in 2016 was 792 hectares. Following the drought in the year, farmers cultivated cane on 401 hectares in 2017. While the area under sugarcane cultivation saw ups and downs in the subsequent years, the same stood at 400 hectares last December.
Farmers claim that they have to send sugarcane to the nearby sugar mills outside the district which increases their transportation cost resulting in lowering their profits.
“We face problems in cane cultivation as we do not get labourers for cane cultivation and the available workforce demand high wages,” said a farmer from the region.
