Use sugar beet to beat sugar shortages

Sugar has been under the spotlight since last October. And with prices seen firming further in the next few years amid short supply, rising cost of farming inputs and growing use of sugarcane for biofuels purposes, it will remain under focusas the centre of attention, possibly inviting public anger. causing pubic furor as well..
These conditions do not just require a change in how the commodity is managed by the stakeholders, including effective administration by the government, but also require the policymakers to consider increasing both the yield and quantity of sugar. One of such unexplored options is sugar beet, called shakar-qand in Urdu.
According to SMEDAs fact finding mission, sugar beet offers almost two times higher sugar yield per hectare with much less water and other input resources. On top of it, the crop requires a much shorter cultivation period (4-6 months), compared with sugarcane that needs about 12 to 16 months.
In addition, sugar beet offers better margins for both farmers and millers. Gross margins earned by farmers, according to results from model farming, have been found around 13.5 percent semiannually - i.e. 27 percent per annum - while allowing the farming space to sow any other crop during the off-season.
Similarly, since the recovery of sugar from sugar beet is higher than that from sugar cane, the gross margin of sugar mills can increase by using beet as an alternative, if not main, raw material.
Plus, processing sugar beet requires lower heating costs compared with that needed for processing sugarcane, while heat recovery gained through bagasse - the dry dusty pulp that remains after extracting sugar cane or similar plants - is also much higher in case of sugar beet.
Since there is no difference in the quality of white sugar produced by beet and the one produced through cane - they both fetch the same price. This has lured many global players in the beet sugar business, such that more than 20 percent of the world sugar supply today is derived from beet compared with less than 5 percent back in 2007.
In order to reap these benefits, all Pakistani millers will have to do is to add a new beet line to their existing cane sugar mills. As for the government, it should encourage investors in the private sector to initiate sugar beet projects while also making ancillary farming arrangements.

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COMPARATIVE FARMING REQUIREMENTS

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                  Months  Days  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec  Jan  Feb  Mar Apr  May  Jun  July  Aug

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Sugarcane

Planting              3    90

Growing Period       13   390

Harvest               4   120

Sugar Beet (Winter)

Planting            1.5    45

Growing Period        7   210

Harvest               2    60

Sugar Beet(Summer)

Planting            1.5    45

Growing Period        4   120

Harvest             1.5    45

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