In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Origin of Sugarcane 2. Conceptual Framework of Sugarcane 3. History 4. Role.
Origin of Sugarcane:
Sugarcane is one of the most important crops in the world because of its strategic position and immense uses in the daily life of any nation as well as for industrial uses aimed at nutritional and economic sustenance. It is a tropical crop that usually takes between 8-12 months to reach its maturity.
Sugarcane occupies about 3 percent of the total cultivated area in India and it is one of the most important cash crops, contributing about 7.5 percent of the gross value of agricultural production in the country. It is the primary raw material for all major sweeteners produced in the country. At present, sugarcane is cultivated throughout the country except in certain hilly tracts in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Sugarcane occupies 4.7- 5.1 million hectares of cultivable land. Sugarcane is significant in that it creates employment for many people, establishment of sugar milling factories contributes to urbanization and industrial development.
It provides raw materials for those industries manufacturing industrial spirits, produces sugar for domestic use hence saving the money that could be used for importing sugar, and farmers earn incomes through the sale of canes thus raising their standards of living. Through this sugarcane production ensures sustainable development of the country.
Global interest in sugarcane has increased significantly in recent years due to its economic impact on sustainable energy production. Sugarcane breeding and better agronomic practices have contributed to a huge increase in sugarcane yield in the last 30 years. The goal of socioeconomic study is to bring about socio-economic development in terms of understanding the present condition of a particular area.
Socio-Economic development is carried out by the efficient and adequate utilization of physical and human resources of a region. Socio-Economic approach focuses on identifying the adaptive capacity of individuals or communities based on their internal characteristics such as, education, gender, wealth, health status, access to credit, access to information and technology, formal and informal (social) capital, political power, and so on.
Variations of these factors are responsible for the variations in socio-economic characteristics of farmers. Socio-Economic development of an area depends on the levels of agricultural development and infrastructural facilities available in the area under study.
The sugarcane cultivation and its impact on existing socio-economic patterns of the farmers which is analyzed and interpreted on the basis of collected data during the year 2014.
The Conceptual Framework of Sugarcane:
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is one of the major commercial crops in India and plays a pivotal role in country’s agricultural and industrial economy and also responsible for the overall socio-economic development of the farming community.
Sugarcane is used for seed, feed, green fodder, production of sugar, jaggery (gur), and juice etc. Sugar industry is the largest agro-based next only to textile and contributes significantly to the value of total agricultural output of the country.
Socio-Economic Development:
Development is the process, which improves the quality of life. It refers to growth, evolution, stage of inducement or progress. This progress or growth is gradual and had sequential phases. Always there is increasing differentiation. It also refers to the overall movement towards greater efficiency and complex situations.
Agriculture plays a crucial role in the economic growth and development of a country. It is dominant sector in the economy particularly that of developing nations likes India. Agricultural development is a process, which brings about changes in capital formation, per capita income and national income of a country.
Rural Areas:
Rural India is the home to two-thirds of the country’s population, where almost half of the national income is generated. Almost 6, 27,000 villages are home to 790 million Indians today. According to 2007 Mckinsey report, 63 percent of India’s population will live in rural areas in the year 2025.
Further they have forecasted that per-household spending in rural India will reach current levels in urban India by 2017. According to the Census of India, ‘rural’ is defined as any habitation with a population density less than 400 per sq. km, where 75 percent of the male working population is engaged in agriculture and where there is no municipality or board established.
History of Sugarcane:
Sugarcane has held the attention of many, from monks to monarchs. Legend has it that Gautama, who became Lord Buddha, was born of sugarcane. The first offerings to Lord Buddha were ‘sticks of sugarcane’. Alexander the Great, during his invasion of India noted that this ‘honey reed’ was a closely spaced, well husbanded garden crop. It is also related to Indian mythology in many ways.
The wild species Saccbarum locally called as Kans is used in many rituals. Saccharum spontaneum has a mention in Valmiki’s Ramayana. The plant was used in cloning and culturing of a new child in the place of the lost child ‘Lava’ (son of Goddess Sita). The earliest reference to sugarcane is in Atharvaveda and Rig veda (10000 – 5000 BC). Cane planting was well established in the Indus valley. It can be reasonably postulated that the Indians knew the art and science of sugar making. It is believed that sugar was made in India in 3000 BC.
The name sugar is derived from the sanskrit word ‘Sarkara’, meaning gravel or sand. The earliest crude sugar made from the juice of the sugarcane was like sand. The original name was changed during its journey, to ‘Sukkar’ in Arabic, ‘Sakharon’ in Green, Sucre in French and finally to Sugar in English. The next major event in the history of sugarcane was the importation of thick stemmed varieties of Saccharum officinarum from Thhiti to Jamaica in 1791 by Captain Bligh.
Role of Sugarcane in Indian Economy:
The last five decades have been the period of impressive growth in sugarcane production. Contribution of sugarcane to the national GDP is 1.1 percent which is significant considering that the crop is grown only in 2.57 percent of the gross cropped area. Contribution of sugarcane to the agricultural GDP has steadily increased from about 5 percent in 1990-91 to 10 percent in 2010-11.
During the period from 1930-31 to 2010-11, the area under sugarcane had gone up from 1.18 million ha to 5.0 million ha, productivity from 31 tonnes to 70 tonnes per hectare and total cane produced from 37 million tonnes to 340 million tonnes. Current sugar production in the country is about 24.5 million tonnes.
India is the fourth largest economy in the world, next to U.S, China and Japan. The contributions of the above four countries to the world GDP are US – 21.1 percent, China – 12.1 percent, Japan – 7 percent and India – 5.7 percent. Sugar industry is the second largest in the country after cotton textiles and contributes around 6 percent of the Agricultural GDP Indeed, sugar industry has facilitated and accelerated pace of rural industrialization.
The most important feature of the industry is the vital link between sugar producer and cane growers whose interest and well-being are interdependent as well as supplementary. Quantum of sugar production depends upon the availability of sugarcane because it is main raw material of sugar industry.
The industry has remained a focal point for socioeconomic development in the rural areas by mobilizing rural resources, generating employment and income and besides giving a fillip to transport and communication facilities. The rapid developments in sugarcane cultivation and industry in the country have earned India a prestigious position among sugar producing nations in the world.
Sugarcane Cultivation and Socio-Economic Development:
The impact of sugarcane cultivation on socio-economic condition of farmers of rural areas has been presented in this section. The study impact of sugarcane cultivation on socio-economic development of the farmers during last ten years is carried in the table 5.21 by asking responses in agree and disagree of certain statements.
The impact of sugarcane has brought about changes in socio-economic life of farmers. From the above table the improving socio-economic condition has shown the development of farmers. Education is the doorway to the wider world and an exposition on rural infrastructure is incomplete without an assessment of the extent to which we have been able to open this door for the children of rural India.
In the study area, 79.25 percent of the farmers opined that their educational status has increased during last ten years by adopting sugarcane as cash crop. Migration is influenced both by the pattern of development and the social structure. 52.54 percent of the farmers tell the sugarcane cultivation is labour intensive crop which reduce the migration in the study area.
Health of the family members is an indication of good and balanced diet. Maintenance of health depends upon proper care of the body by taking preventive measures against diseases, consultations with the physicians in the initial stages of illness and taking the proper medicines as suggested by him.
Adoption of family planning measures also help in limiting the numbers of family which directly affect the economic conditions of the family and help in improving the quality of food. With this perception farmers were asked about the improvement in health conditions.
From their views, it can be asserted with confidence that the farmers are now much more health conscious than they were about a decade ago. Farmers make a percentage of 57.62 percent whose health condition improved during this period. 42.38 percent of the farmers reckoned that their health condition is not improved.
Even though, a considerable percentage of farmers now regularly consult a physician at the initial stage of diseases and take immunization programme and other preventive measures. It is true that the majority of the farmers still depend largely on indigenous medicines.
It is important to note that some farmers have started taking family planning measures. In general this health consciousness is a result of economic improvement which in turn can be attributed to the encouraging implication of agriculture.
The Acreage of land holding of the farmers was done by considering the size of the land owned and cultivated by each of the farm family. 64.45 percent farmers have increased their acreage of land holding and 35.53 percent farmers are disagreeing to increase of land holding.
Water is essential even indispensable for cultivation, for crops need and for growth. The farmers get water for their crops either from rainfall or from irrigation. Increase in agricultural production and productivity depends, to a large extent, on the availability of water. There is certain type of crops such as wheat, paddy, sugarcane, etc., which require regular and abundant water supply.
In the case of such crops the farmers cannot depend upon rainfall alone. Water for irrigation can be obtained mainly from by means of tube wells, canal and ponds. 73.29 percent of the farmers reported that availability of irrigation facilities have been developed in the study area.
There is now a common belief that progressive agriculture is impossible without mechanization of agriculture. By mechanization of agriculture we mean the replacement of animal and human power by machinery. Mechanization of agriculture stands for the use of machinery in all farming operations, ranging from ploughing to the marketing of the produce. Man by himself can produce only very little but with the help of machinery he can produce much more.
Farm machinery has relieved man of much of the heavy work. For instance, land reclamation, digging and carrying of earth, ploughing etc., are all heavy work. As regard to farm implements, the farmers (72.41 percent) expressed their views that numbers of farm implements have been increased whereas only 27.59 percent viewed no increment has been accomplished.
Livestock plays an important role in generating income and employment, augmenting income of farmers and landless labourers and in meeting nutritional requirement. Livestock wealth in India is more egalitarian, compared to land, and hence it is found to promote equity and livestock security. Both the national economy as well as the socioeconomic growth of the country is backed by the livestock sector. 67.32 percent of the farmers responded that the numbers of livestock increased.
The table 5.21 indicates the production in quintals per hectare of wheat, paddy, sugarcane and other crops have been increased during last ten years. It could be observed that average yield of wheat is increased said by 85.87 percent farmers, paddy by 86.75 percent, sugarcane by 87.19 percent and other corps like oilseeds, maize and pulses by 65.12 percent farmers in the study area. Thus, it can be concluded that there was an increase in yield levels of crops which was a consequence of sugarcane cultivation.
86.98 percent of the farmers declared that they change seed use pattern from indigenous varieties to high yielding varieties of crops. On the other hand only 13.02 percent farmers have not moved towards high yielding varieties of crops. As far as use of manure/fertilizers is concerned 84.99 percent of the farmers are applying in their fields. A very few number amounting to 15.01 percent of the farmers denied to use of any manure/fertilizers. It may be due to lack of money.
Credit came as a revolution in the rural sector as it helped farmers in farming equipment’s, seeds, livestock and other necessary elements to help them in their social and economic life. In order to study the changes in credit behaviour of farmers, 69.54 percent of the farmers recorded to move government agencies for getting a credit.
The process, by which messages are transferred from a source to one or more receivers, is vital aspect of social change. It is indeed the key that opens the door for change. The tendency for farmers to follow the prescribed ways of their ancestors may be attributed to their lack of knowledge about available alternatives.
In order to study the sources of agricultural information like extension staff, fellow cultivators, demonstration, mass media and relatives increased as perceived by the 74.61 percent of the farmers. Data shows that not significant increase has been received.
Mass media played key role in agriculture production system as perceived by the 73.29 percent of the farmers which shows an increasing interest in mass media while 26.71 percent of the farmers are disagree to have any opinion on mass media role.
It can be inferred that farmers have increased their income which amounts to 82.78 percent while only 17.22 percent of the farmers responded that their income has not increased. Increase in the farm earnings has increased the purchasing power of farmers.
They have purchased improved agricultural implements and equipment’s as well as other non-farming materials personally. This has culminated in improving the standard of living as well as life style of farmers through sugarcane cultivation.
The Indian sugar industry is the second largest in the world after Brazil and sugar production has emerged as one of the major agro industries in the rural areas of India during the last few decades. It has made a considerable impact on the economy of farmers, particularly in irrigated areas and plays a vital role towards socio-economic development by mobilizing rural resources and generating higher income and employment opportunities.
About 7.5 per cent of the rural population, covering about 45 million sugarcane farmers, their dependents and a large number of agricultural labourers are involved in sugarcane cultivation, harvesting and ancillary activities. About half a million skilled and unskilled workers, mostly from the rural areas are engaged in the sugar industry.
With over 600 mills across India in the public, private and co-operative sectors, it is the only industry providing subsidized sugar to below poverty line (BPL) families via a nationwide public distribution system. The sugar industry contributed 0.70 percent to India’s GDP and produced 13 percent of the global sugar.
Sugarcane grows in two distinct agro-climatic regions; tropical and sub-tropical. It is cultivated on 4.92 million hectares providing an annual sugarcane production of 347 million metric ton (2015-16). Sugarcane crop occupied merely 2.2 – 2.7 percent of India’s cultivable land. Production of the crop is mainly located in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat.
Uttar Pradesh is the largest sugarcane producing state in the country. It contributes 44 percent to the country’s total sugarcane production and is also the largest producer of sugar in the country. The sugarcane is produced in 44 districts of the states and of these districts 28 districts are the major sugarcane producing districts.
There are 125 operational sugar mills running in the state. A total of about 29 lakh sugarcane farmers are members of the 168 U.P Cooperative cane development Societies and the sugarcane is supplied to mills through these societies.
The Uttar Pradesh sugar industry has a bright future as one of the prospective players in the global sugar market. The demand for sugar across the world has been growing exponentially. The Uttar Pradesh sugar industry with its capacity can cater to this international demand.