Haryana Cooperation Minister Dr. Arvind Kumar Sharma said that farmers should adopt new technologies while cultivating sugarcane, as it will help reduce the cost of cultivation and increase their income. He said that an online token system has been introduced in all cooperative sugar mills of the state, enabling sugarcane farmers to book tokens from home.
This has ensured a continuous supply of sugarcane to mills as per requirement and has saved farmers approximately 10 to 12 hours per trolley while supplying their produce. Dr. Arvind Kumar Sharma was replying to a Calling Attention Motion tabled during the ongoing budget session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today.
He further shared that in the year 2020–21, the area under sugarcane was 246,357 acres, which increasedto 263,499 acres in 2021–22 and further to 266,142 acres in 2022–23. However, after 2022–23, the area under sugarcane has been continuously declining.
Dr. Arvind Kumar Sharma said that although the average yield of sugarcane has shown a continuous decline from 2020–21 to 2024–25, except for the year 2022–23. During 2025–26, the average yield of sugarcane is estimated to be 329.59 quintals per acre, which is 5.2 percent (18.09 quintals) lower than the average yield of 347.68 quintals per acre in 2020–21, indicating a significant decline in productivity, he shared.
The Minister further informed that as a result, the total production of sugarcane during 2025–26 is estimated to be 536.24 lakh quintals, which is 37.55 percent (322.54 lakh quintals) lower than the total production of 858.78 lakh quintals in 2020–21. Due to the reduction in the area under sugarcane cultivation, the availability of sugarcane for crushing in sugar mills has declined.
For the current year, it is estimated at 509.47 lakh quintals. As a result, the working days of sugar mills are expected to be limited to 108 days, said Dr. Arvind Kumar Sharma.He said that sugarcane is a highly labour intensive crop, requires huge number of manpower from sowing to harvesting. Over time, the availability of labour has continuously declined, and labour wages have increased.
As a result, farmers are interested to grow other crops. The limited availability of agricultural machinery for sugarcane harvesting is also a major reason for the reduction in area under sugarcane cultivation.
The Minister further shared that in Haryana, about 50 percent of sugarcane sowing is done after the harvest of wheat. In recent years, sudden changes in weather have been observed. Although the monsoon in Haryana generally becomes active in the first week of July, due to climatic changes, rainfall has been occurring from the beginning of April in recent years.
As a result, germination and tillering of sugarcane have been adversely affected, leading to a decline in average yield and total production, he said. The Minister said that due to climate change, major early varieties of sugarcane, such as Co-0238 and Co-0118, have been affected by top borer, root borer, and wilt disease, which has also resulted in a reduction in average yield and total production.
He said that the main early varieties of sugarcane (Co-0238 and Co-0118) have shown lower yield and total production than expected during the past few years. Divulging the details of Schemes Adopted by the Agriculture Department to Increase Sugarcane Area and make the crop more Profitable, Dr. Arvind Kumar Sharma said that to ensure timely payment to farmers for their sugarcane produce, the government declares the maximum State Advised Price (SAP) every year.
He said that the department provides information about the latest sugarcane cultivation techniques from sowing to harvesting through farmer meetings/kissan ghosthis, farmer fairs, and farmer-scientist interactions organized from time to time.The Minister shared that during the last five years, the cane section organized about 225 farmer meetings/kissan ghosthis, 15 farmer fairs and 41 farmer-scientist interactions and disseminated the latest technology to 28005 farmers.
He said that wide awareness campaigns regarding modern sugarcane technologies are conducted through newspapers, sugarcane-related literature, and advertisements. Furthermore, under the Technology Mission on Sugarcane scheme subsidy of Rs. 3000 per acre is being provided to farmers for planting of sugarcane in wide row spacing to increase productivity.
In this budget for the financial year 2026-27, the Government has proposed to increase the incentive from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 5000 per acre. He said that Healthy and disease-free seed is made available to farmers, for which a subsidy of Rs. 5,000 per acre is provided.
The Minister said that a subsidy of Rs. 5,000 per acre is provided both for purchasing seed of new sugarcane varieties, such as Co-15023 and for producing seed to sell to other farmers. Dr. Arvind Kumar Sharma said that in the budget of the financial year 2026-27, the government has proposed that the farmer adopting the tissue culture method for sugarcane cultivation will be provided sugarcane seeding free of cost.
He said that in the budget of the financial year 2026-27, the government has proposed that cooperative sugar mills will provide sugarcane harvesters to the farmers for harvesting of their produce, ultimately reducing the cost of sugarcane cultivation.