CHENNAI: Seeking to improve sugarcane productivity, reduce cultivation costs and tap the growing ethanol market, the State government on Thursday unveiled a series of initiatives for the sugar sector, including subsidies for quality planting material and a proposal to establish an ethanol distillery at a cooperative sugar mill.
Presenting the Agriculture Budget in the Assembly, Agriculture-Farmers' Welfare Minister Vinoth said the government would roll out a Seed Cane Subsidy Scheme to encourage farmers registered with cooperative and public sector sugar mills to adopt modern planting techniques.
Under the scheme, farmers opting for wider row planting using bud chip seedlings and single-budded setts of high-yielding, high sugar recovery varieties will receive planting materials at a 50 per cent subsidy. The government has earmarked Rs 9.36 crore, and the initiative will cover 17,315 acres during 2026-27.
The government also announced a Sugarcane Cultivation Development Programme, with an allocation of Rs 9 crore, to promote breeder seed cane, tissue culture seedlings, de-trashing, trash shredding and mulching, besides extending support for micronutrients and bio-fertilisers to improve productivity and lower cultivation costs.
In a move aimed at diversifying the sugar sector, Vinoth said the government would prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and feasibility study for setting up a 100 KLPD ethanol distillery at the Kallakurichi-I Cooperative Sugar Mill in partnership with the Kallakurichi-II and Chengalrayan cooperative sugar mills. A sum of Rs 20 lakh has been allocated for the study.