Chandigarh, March 7 -- Haryana government on Friday set alarm bells ringing about the sugar sector, estimating that sugarcane production in 2025-26 could fall by 38% compared to 2020-21 as farmers are steadily moving away from the crop due to falling yields, rising cultivation costs and diminishing returns. Replying to a calling attention notice of BJP MLA Ghanshyam Dass (Yamunanagar), cooperation minister Arvind Kumar Sharma said that the area under sugarcane had initially risen from 2.46 lakh acre in 2020-21 to 2.66 lakh acre in 2022-23. However, after 2022-23, the area under sugarcane has been continuously declining. The minister said that the average yield has also largely trended downward during the period and is estimated at 330 quintals per acre in 2025-26, about 5.2% lower than the 348 quintals per acre recorded in 2020-21, reflecting weakening productivity and reduced attractiveness of the crop for farmers. "Compared to 2020-21, it is estimated that there will be a reduction of approximately 83,658 acres in the area under sugarcane," Sharma told the House, adding that due to the reduction in the area under sugarcane cultivation, the availability of sugarcane for crushing in sugar mills has declined. "The total production of sugarcane during 2025-26 is estimated to be 536 lakh quintals, which is 37.55% (323 lakh quintals) lower than the total production of 859 lakh quintals in 2020-21. As a result, the working days of sugar mills are expected to be limited to 108 days," Sharma added. Earlier, while raising the issue through a calling attention notice, the BJP MLA Ghanshyam Dass said that due to continuous decline in sugarcane yield per acre in the state, farmers are gradually moving away from sugarcane cultivation. "Consequently, the total area under sugarcane is decreasing and sugar mills are facing reduced availability of sugarcane," he said, adding that due to declining productivity and reduced availability of sugarcane, farmers are continuously suffering economic losses, which is a matter of serious concern. "Generally, sugar mills operate efficiently for 170 to 180 days in a season. However, in the current season, the average is expected to be only 105 days, which is a warning sign for the sugar industry," the MLA added. The sugarcane is one of the major cash crops of Haryana. In recent years, a significant decline has been recorded in both the area under sugarcane cultivation and its average yield. The government stated that one of the main reasons for decline in sugarcane area is rising cost of labour as it is a highly labour intensive crop. While the availability of labour has continuously declined, wages have increased. As a result, farmers are shifting towards other crops. The minister said that compared to other cropping systems, sugarcane involves higher costs and lower profitability. Therefore, farmers are mainly adopting crop rotations such as wheat-paddy and potato-maize-paddy. Sharma said that awareness campaigns regarding modern sugarcane technologies are being conducted. He said under technology mission, subsidy has been increased from Rs.3000 per acre to now Rs.5,000 per acre to farmers for planting sugarcane in wide row spacing to increase productivity. A subsidy of Rs.3000 per acre is also provided to farmers for adopting the single bud planting method to increase productivity. He said disease-free seed is made available to farmers with a subsidy of Rs.5000 per acre. "Due to climate change, major early varieties of sugarcane have been affected by top borer, root borer, and wilt disease, which has also resulted in a reduction in average yield and total production," the minister said....