At least 42,000 farmers in Muzaffarnagar switched to sugarcane farming in the last five years after the introduction of a new crop variety with a better yield. With the new entrants, the cultivation area of the crop and sugarcane production has also seen a considerable jump.<\/p>\n
Now, two lakh farmers are growing cane in comparison to 1.6 lakh in 2015, he said.
According to officials, in the crushing year 2016-17, the recorded sugarcane growing area stood at 1,26,872 hectare which has now reached 1,68,015 hectare in 2021-22.
The cultivation area of sugarcane in the district has increased by 42,596 hectares during the last five crushing years.<\/p>\n
As many as eight sugar mills in the district have started preparation for crushing for the 2021-22 season.<\/p>\n
The sugarcane farmers had been paid Rs 2,200 crore in 2015-16 by these mills. Now, the last payment was 3,200 crore in 2020-21. The payment of the sugarcane has increased Rs 1,000 crore in five years, the cane officer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"