AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION

SUGARCANE

Sugarcane is another garden crop which is mostly grown in Brahmapuri, Gadhchiroli and Chandrapur tahsils. Rajura tahsil had practically no area [except 0.809 hectares (2 acres) in 1959-60 and 0.405 hectares (1 acre) in 1960-61] under sugarcane during the period between 1956-57 and 1963-64. Of the tahsils in the district  Brahmapuri has the highest acreage under sugarcane. In this tahsil, however, the acreage under the crop has gone down from 355.314 hectares (878 acres) in 1956-57 to 189.393 hectares (468) in 1963-64.

The following tables give area under sugarcane and its outturn in metric tonnes from 1956-57 to 1963-64: -

TABLE No. 15

TAHSIL-WISE AREA UNDER SUGARCANE IN CHANDRAPUR DISTRICT FROM 1956-57 TO 1963-64

Area in hectares*

*Figures in brackets indicate area in acres.

TABLE No. 15-contd.

Area in hectares*.

* Figures in brackets indicate area in acres.

TABLE No. 15-contd.

Area in hectares*

* Figures in brackets indicate area in acres.

TABLE No. 16

TAHSIL-WISE OUTTURN OF SUGARCANE IN CHANDRAPUR DISTRICT FROM 1956-57 TO 1963-64

Figures in metric tonnes*

* Figures in brackets indicate outturn in tons.

TABLE No. 16-contd.

Figures in metric tonnes*

* Figures in brackets indicate outturn in tons.

TABLE No. 16-contd.

(Figures in metric tonne*)

*Figure in brackets indicate outturn in tons.

About the cultivation of sugarcane crop in the district the old gazetteer has the following to say: " Cane cultivation is found in Warora and the Rajgarh paragana of Chandrapur but the chief seat of production is the Garbori paragana of Brahmapuri. Lean years and the competition of gur from the United Provinces and Bengal have combined to reduce the cultivation of sugarcane to a somewhat languishing state, and the crop is now hardly important enough to justify a detailed description of the processes employed, interesting though they are."

The cultivation of sugarcane in the last quarter of the 19th Century had its peculiarities. The crop was grown in two ways viz., motasthal and patasthal the former being the way of irrigating the crop by a leathern mot employed to draw the water from the well and the latter by a channel, or pat coming from a tank. The method of allotting land for sugarcane cultivation was another peculiarity. " In cane-growing villages of this district", writes Mr. Hemingway, "it has been the custom from time immemorial for tenants to hand over their holdings in rotation to the malguzar for cane. The cane when irrigated from a tank is almost invariably grown by a community of which the  mulguzar is not of necessity a member; if a certain number of tenants in the village express a desire to grow cane, and the tank contains enough water to supply the demand, the malguzar may  sublet a plot of his sir to them for the purpose, or he may call upon a tenant to surrender his holding for cane; the malguzar has full control over the land thus taken up: he is supposed to give the tenant land of equal value in exchange: or if that cannot be arranged he remits the rent for the time that the land is out of the tenant's possession. The malguzar then apportions the land to the men who want to grow cane, and he or the owner of the tank, if the tank does not belong to the malguzar, takes water-dues from the cane growers according to the area which each member of the community has under cane in his garden."

Kata and kathai were the two varieties of cane grown in the district. The kata was a better variety and was so known because of its thick purple colour It, however, gave only one cutting and generally occupied the ground only for one year. Kathai, on the other hand, was a smaller and inferior cane, also harder and contained little juice, but it had the advantage of giving three cuttings in successive years, though the second and third cuttings were comparatively poor.

In about 1907. due to the efforts of the then Irrigation and Agriculture Department the area under cane considerably increased. The local experiments which were then made in the Ahiri estate also helped in increasing the area under sugarcane.

The cultivation of sugarcane is extremely expensive and requires heavy manuring as well as watering. Lengthy fences have to be erected to prevent encroachment by pigs and jackals. The cane also occupies the ground for a whole year before it is ready for cutting. The best soil for the crop is the medium deep and well-drained. It is brought to a fine tilth by ploughing it about a month prior to planting and by subsequent repeated harrowing. Manures are also applied. The land is put into ridges and furrows and necessary channels are prepared for Irrigation before planting. These furrows are irrigated before planting. The planting is done sometime in January-February. Selected canes are cut into small sets of pieces having three eyebuds. These sets are gently pressed in the furrows already watered with the eyebuds facing sideways. Irrigation is repeated with an interval of about ten days and continued till the harvesting of the crop except rainy season. Cane planted in January-February becomes fully ripe in the same months of the following year. The canes are then cut close to the ground leaving its stubbles of about two to three inches high above the ground level, and brought to the temporarily erected shed called gurhal for extracting juice from it. The juice is pressed by mills, which generally include both wooden or iron-rollers and then boiled down in country pans.

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