Trends in area, production and productivity of sugarcane in Maharashtra

Maharashtra is one of the leading states in sugarcane and sugar production and it is the second largest agro-based next only to textile industry. The time series data on area, production and productivity of sugarcane from the published sources were used for estimating the districtwise and recovery zone wise annual compound growth rates of area, production and productivity of sugarcane in Maharashtra over a period of 53 years. The area, production and productivity of sugarcane crop have fluctuated widely during the period under consideration in all the districts and State as a whole. The growth rates of area and production of sugarcane for Maharashtra as a whole were observed to be positive and significant for the entire period of 53 years. There existed wide variation in the performance of sugarcane crop in terms of changes in area, total production and productivity among the districts over a period of time. The increase in the production was mainly due to the area expansion and slightly due to increase in the productivity of sugarcane. The area, production and productivity of sugarcane in high recovery zone of sugarcane have increased at the rate of 3.18, 3.50 and 0.31 per cent per annum, respectively, during the entire period.