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Sugar
beet cultivation and production in Pakistan
By H. A. Naqvi
Presently
lot of discussions are taking place regarding the cultivation of sugar beet
instead of sugarcane in Sindh in order to overcome shortage of irrigation water.
We must analyse all the aspects with experts before bringing it to a logical
end.
Sugar beet
cultivation is already in production in Pakistan for the last 40-45 years and
four beet sugar factories are already operating in NWFP since 1962-63. Some of
the major facts, figures and achievements regarding sugar beet cultivation and
beet sugar production can be summarised as under.
(1) After a
thorough study and research during the late 50s by local and foreign experts,
NWFP was considered suitable for sugar beet cultivation in Pakistan.
(2)
Commercial sugar beet cultivation started in NWFP during early 60s.
(3) The
first beet-sugar factory in Pakistan was established during 1963 in Charsadda,
along with the existing cane sugar mills i.e. Charsadda (Saleem) Sugar Mills,
Charsadda.
(4)
Presently, there are four beet sugar mills in the NWFP i.e. Premier, Charsadda (Saleem),
Takhi-Bhai and Khazana.
(5) All the
four beet sugar mills in the NWFP are with the existing cane sugar mills.
(6) Beet
sugar factories operate after the end of cane crushing season of Nov-April.
(7) Beet
sugar slicing season starts during May and continues up to July-Aug depending
upon the availability of the crop in sugar beet.
(8) The
annual beet sugar production of last 10 years in box.
(9) The
sugar recovery percent beet is between 8-11.
(10) Water
requirement of sugar beet is less than half of sugarcane.
(11) Sugar
beet in sown during November and harvested during May/June next year. Sugarcane
is sown during February-March and harvesting starts from November same year.
(12) The
yield of sugar beet is 12-13 tonnes per acre and it is available to the
factories at PRs 44 per 40 kg.
(13) The
total area under sugar beet cultivation is around 20,000 acres.
(14) Extra
furnace oil is required for processing of sugar beet into sugar as it does not
contain baggase like sugarcane. The beet pulp is used as cattle feed.
(15) If
sugar beet is grown in Sindh and made available to the existing cane sugar
mills, it can not be processed into beet sugar.
(16) The
processing of beet sugar requires different equipments for extraction &
processing as compared to sugarcane i.e. beet slicing, beet diffusion, liming
and carbonatation etc. However, the bulk of the equipment of cane sugar
factories can still be utilised i.e. weigh bridges, Boilers/steam generation
plants, Power generators, Juice heaters, Multiple effect evaporators, Vacuum
Pans, Crystallisers, Continuous centrifugals, Batch type sugar centrifugals,
Sugar dryers, Packing plants etc.
(17) For
any of the existing 31 cane sugar mills of Sindh required to have additional
facility for sugar beet processing, the extra machinery & equipments for
sugar beet would cost around PRs 300-350 million each mill mainly in foreign
exchange.
(18) a: It
may be of interest to note that out of the total world sugar production of 130
million tonnes, about 65 per cent is produced from sugarcane and 35 per cent
from sugar beet.
b: Sugar
beet is produced under cold climate mainly in Europe, USA, Russia, turkey etc.
while sugar cane is grown under warm, humid, tropical/sub-tropical climate in
Asia. Africa, Australia and South America.
In view of
the above facts & figures following conclusion and recommendation can be
made:
(1)
Necessary infrastructure, technical know-how including cultivation and
processing of sugar beet is already available in the NWFP. Therefore sugar beet
cultivation in NWFP be given priority as a policy decision. Moreover, the
climate of NWFP in more suitable for sugar beet cultivation an compared to other
provinces of Pakistan.
(2) If the
farmers of Sindh are encouraged towards sugar beet cultivation, where all their
produce will go as the existing 31 cane sugar mills are not equipped to process
sugar beet.
(3) If the
existing cane sugar mills are encouraged to go for additional beet sugar
processing facilities, it would require an investment of PRs 300-350 million per
mill mainly in foreign exchange. This is quite a heavy investment. Moreover,
availability of raw material i.e. sugar beet not being very certain, the
economic and technical viability of the project will be a big question mark.
(4) It is
also to be seen that the encouragement/incentive for sugar-beet cultivation is
not at the cost of sugar cane cultivation or decrease in sugar cane acreage.
(5) a: The
past history and performance of 40 years of sugar beet cultivation and its
processing in NWFP need to be studied in detail. The reason for its erratic
performance i.e. production fluctuation between 5,000 to 40,000 tonnes per
annum, very low capacity factory operation due to non-availability of raw
material/sugar beet, lack of interest of sugar beet farmers, high cost of beet
sugar production etc. should be studied by experts and remedial measures
adopted.
b: It would
be in the fitness of the situation that steps are taken and policy decision is
made to revive the beet sugar industry of NWFP. If operated at full capacity it
can produce more than 60-70,000 tonnes of beet sugar annually.
Beet sugar
production
Year
Tonnes
Year
Tonnes
year
B.S. Ton
1990 26,987
1994
22,137
1998
5,925
1991 23,312
1995
18,440
1999
10,687
1992 29,009
1996
20,581
2000
14,618
1993 20,287
1997
14,722
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e-wise
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