Dehradun: Alarm bells have gone off with the dwindling area under sugarcane cultivation in the Dehradun district. The district has been registering a continual decrease in the area under sugarcane sowing, reports Live Hindustan.
This was brought to the fore during the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Cooperative Sugarcane Development Committee here in Doiwala on Wednesday. Strategies for increasing the area and production of sugarcane were discussed in the meeting.
Manoj Nautiyal, Chairman of the Sugarcane Committee, reported that the area for sugarcane cultivation in the Dehradun district has been steadily decreasing. In the 2022-2023 season, the area was 4422 hectares. This reduced to 3785 hectares in 2023-2024, and for the current 2024-2025 season, it has further decreased to 3691 hectares, which is concerning.
Nautiyal mentioned that farmers who have had committee loans for several years should be sent notices to repay them promptly. According to the commissioner, Cane Commissioner Chandra Singh Dharmashaktu, the Sugarcane Development Department is doing much towards increasing both the area and production of sugarcane. The committee approved all the pending bills after going through the details of the income and expenditure for the last four months during the meeting.
The meeting also emphasized the importance of preparing the balance sheet of the sugarcane committee for the past two years as soon as possible and holding a general meeting of all farmers by September 15. Attendees included committee board members Gurdeep Singh, Sanjay Sharma, Santosh Chauhan, Naveen Jamwal, S.L. Bijalwan, Kamal, Secretary Sheeshpal Singh, Senior Sugarcane Inspector Gajendra Singh Rawat, and others.
