Downbeat on sugar beet

The Kharif season is underway in Pakistan amid reports of water shortages negatively impacting the growth period of the season. The water shortage weighs heavy on sugar cane crop which is highly water-intensive. Other issues with the crop, including long-time duration, land degradation, use of insecticides and encroachment of cotton belts, have had people talking about sugar beet in the past. Sugar beet accounts for a fifth of total world sugar production and has been encouraged as a supplement to sugar cane. Sugar beet plant has a sweet white root from which sugar is obtained, as its underground stem is rich in sucrose. Grown in mild or temperate weather regions, sugar beet is deemed easily replaceable with sugar cane to maximise land utilisation and minimise water use. In Pakistan, sugar beet has not taken off in a major way, despite that the crop is being harvested in some parts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa since the 1960s. The UNFAO data indicate that in 2010, sugar beet was cultivated in Pakistan on an area of 2,300 hectares, producing 53,336 tons. Miserably compared to the 58 million tons sugar cane produced on an area over one million hectares in 2011-12. It is not that the policymakers are not aware of the future challenges of a sustainable sugar supply. Past studies have unequivocally spoken in favour of cultivating sugar beet. One such report-a joint-study by SMEDA and German sugar beet experts in May 2007-noted. "Sugar beet can produce almost two times higher sugar yields per hectare with less water and other input(s) in a short period (4-6 months) as compared to cane that needs 12-16 months. Sugar beet can provide a solution to water shortage and land degradation if the government along with the sugar industry can set longer-term objectives and make appropriate arrangements for the crops promotion". The nearly month-long study concluded that sugar beet can be grown as a winter crop both in lower Sindh and Punjab. Sown in October/November and harvested in March/April and May after the cane crushing is over, it would fit well into the cropping pattern. Excluding raw material, the conversion cost of sugar beet (Rs.990/ton) was found to be way lower than the processing cost of sugar cane (Rs.2,920/ton). BR Researchs background interactions indicate some reasons why sugar beet hasn taken off yet. Majority of small cane growers do not switch to sugar beet because they have a lifestyle associated with cane: making gur for liquidity and self-employment, and chopping off sugar cane ops for animal feed. Millers need investment for modification in exiting set-ups. Government policy is the usual bogeyman. Some suggest that Pakistans climatic conditions are not suitable for large scale cultivation of sugar beet. Perhaps, that is why sugar beet has had a hard time transitioning its potential (as noted in the controlled conditions at the research institutions) to the actual climatic conditions on the farm. The crop lacks heat resistance, a hallmark of sugar cane. Skeptics point towards India which has also not had good results. Moreover, the use of technology during plantation, harvest and processing stages is cited as another factor. That the top growers of sugar beet are all technologically-advanced countries (France, USA and Germany) indicates the role of technology and its adoption for good results. Hence, the crops Demonstration Effect has been missing in Pakistan-a farmers reason to believe that growing new crop or a variety would yield good returns. This has happened in the cases of BT cotton and various rice varieties in Pakistan when farmers saw the early adopters enjoying gains and followed suit. Sugar beet is still being grown in KP and there are mills that can process it, but this has not been enough to induce growers and millers in other regions to jump the fray. Yet the debate on sugar beet as a supplement for sugar cane is far from over. More field research needs to be done on the crop and to identify those sugar cane varieties that don need much water and are of shorter duration.