Sugarcane area reduced by 5000 hectares: Sugar factories lack raw materials

(Baonghean) - In the 2015-2016 crushing season, sugarcane processing factories in the province all lacked raw materials, due to a decrease in sugarcane acreage and a significant decrease in sugarcane productivity due to drought.

Sugarcane decreased by nearly 5 thousand hectares

Nghia Dan and Quy Hop districts are key localities of sugarcane raw material areas for Nghe An Sugarcane Company Limited (NASU). In recent years, the sugarcane area here has tended to decrease due to people changing crops. Mr. Ho Huu Hoai - Vice Chairman of Nghia Phu Commune People's Committee (Nghia Dan) said: From 600 hectares of sugarcane in 2014, now the sugarcane area is only 400 hectares, of which 200 hectares people have converted to growing citrus trees.

Farmers in Tan Long commune, Tan Ky district take care of sugarcane

Mr. Truong Minh Hoai - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghia Dan district said: In 2015, the whole district had 8,400 hectares of sugarcane, but now it has decreased to 7,800 hectares. Some localities have rapidly converted sugarcane areas such as Nghia Phu, Nghia Hieu...

In Quy Hop district, in 2015 there were more than 6 thousand hectares of sugarcane, but now there are only 5,150 hectares. The reason is easy to understand: sugarcane growers earn low interest rates, or even no profit, because the sugarcane purchase price of the factory is low, the cost of hiring harvest workers is high, while the sugarcane yield is low, so many families have switched to growing other fruit trees.

Transporting sugarcane into production at Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company

Nghe An Sugarcane Company Limited, the 2014-2015 pressing season reached over 860 thousand tons, the 2015-2016 pressing season decreased to 623 thousand tons. The sugarcane raw material area of ​​Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company also decreased by 20% in the past pressing season.

According to the provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, in the 2015-2016 crushing season, the total area of ​​raw sugarcane in the province reached 21,672 hectares, a decrease of nearly 5 thousand hectares compared to the 2014-2015 season; the average sugarcane yield reached 51.34 tons/ha, a decrease of 0.66 tons/ha compared to the 2014-2015 crushing season; the sugarcane output reached 1,112,600 tons, a decrease of 208,353 tons compared to the 2014-2015 crushing season.

Low productivity

The good news for the sugar industry is that the retail price of sugar on the market has been increasing recently. Currently, the retail price of sugar on the market is from 18 - 20 thousand VND/kg, an increase of 2 - 3 thousand VND compared to the beginning of 2016.

Because the old sugarcane varieties are taking up most of the area, the sugarcane area is affected by annual grass shoot disease, leading to low productivity and quality of sugarcane.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Quy - Deputy Director of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company shared: In the last crushing season, despite many difficulties in reducing the area of ​​raw sugarcane, remaining at more than 5 thousand hectares, sugarcane output reached 349 thousand tons, the average yield was less than 45 tons/ha. However, the sugar market has tended to increase since the beginning of the year, which is favorable for the factory's operations.

Nghe An Sugarcane Company Limited (NASU) is the unit with the largest sugarcane material area among the sugarcane factories in the province, with 18,500 hectares planned. However, the actual raw material area that the company signed investment contracts for and consumed products is 14,470 hectares. The average sugarcane yield here is 52 tons/ha, causing the raw sugarcane output in the last pressing season to only reach 752,500 tons, and the sugar output to be 70,729 tons.

Because sugarcane growers earn low profits, the sugarcane acreage is shrinking every year.

Currently, there are 3 sugar processing factories in the province, with a total designed capacity of 13,800 tons of sugarcane/day. According to the assessment of the provincial Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, in the last pressing season, in general, the factories had some policies to encourage the development of raw material areas.

The plan for the 2016-2017 pressing season is that the total area of ​​raw sugarcane will reach 22,300 hectares, the average sugarcane yield will reach over 53 tons/ha, and the sugarcane output will reach 1,190,500 tons. The province's goal is that by 2020, the planned raw sugarcane area will be 28,400 hectares, the average sugarcane yield will reach 70.5 tons/ha, the sugarcane output will reach 1,860,000 tons, and the pressing capacity of factories will increase to 15,500 tons/day.

Xuan Hoang