Punjab has sown the sugarcane crop on 2.148 million acres for kharif 2021-22 exceeding the official target of 1.880m acres by over 14 per cent as more and more farmers being consistently hit by the failure of cotton are fast turning to alternative crops, reveals Crop Reporting Service (CRS) data.
CRS Director Dr Abdul Qayyum says sugarcane plantation target is being exceeded for the second consecutive year, though this season the sowing is 11pc more than the last season when the crop had been sown on 1.920m acres.
The sugarcane acreage may have been even higher had hybrid rice varieties not given a tough time to it.
Saying all factors are so far favouring a good harvest, Dr Abdul Qayyum hopes that the sugar production will be 26pc higher at 63.065 million tonnes against the target of 50m tonnes.
