TIRUPATI: In what agricultural scientists describe as one of the fastest sectoral collapses in modern Indian farming, the sugarcane landscape across the combined Chittoor and Tirupati districts has effectively ceased to exist.
Once considered a major sugarcane stronghold in the Rayalaseema region, the undivided Chittoor district has seen its commercial cultivation plummet by over 96 per cent since its decline began in 2013.
Today, active commercial cane cultivation across both districts stands at just 4,835 hectares—a mere 3 to 4 per cent of its peak acreage.
The collapse of this multi-crore rural economy presents a stark story of policy failure, cooperative mismanagement, and aggressive private competition from neighbouring states. The collapse was driven by the systematic closure of the region’s crushing infrastructure. At its peak, undivided Chittoor was powered by six massive sugar mills supporting over one lakh farming families.
The Chittoor Co-operative Sugars and the Sri Venkateswara Co-operative Sugars in Gajulamandyam, which served as economic anchors for local cooperative farming, are completely non-functional.
Government focus has shifted away from revival toward asset monetisation and legal liquidation to clear mounting debts.
The private sector fared no better. Natems Sugars in Nindra abruptly shut down following the 2020 crushing season, leaving thousands of farmers stranded with crores in unpaid statutory dues. Similar fates met Sudalagunta Sugars in B.N. Kandriga and KBD Sugars in Punganur, both of which entered severe lockouts after drowning in operational losses. Only SNJ Sugars in Nelavoy managed to survive, albeit in a restricted capacity.
“Currently, SNJ Sugars in Nelavoy is the sole operational plant in the region. The unit has agreed to crush produce from 4,800 hectares, with an assured capacity to produce 3,800 metric tonnes of sugar,” said M. Muthyala Naidu, Cane Officer for Chittoor and Tirupati districts.
As local mills locked their gates, remaining growers faced severe logistical challenges. With negligible crushing capacity available locally, farmers were forced to harvest their fields and haul raw cane across state lines to private mills in bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
“We were spending more on diesel and interstate transport permits than we were receiving under the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP),” said Suraparaju Udaya Kumar Raju, a third-generation farmer from Vedurukuppam who recently uprooted his final acre of cane. “The border mills paid well, but the logistical bleed made it impossible to survive.”
Sugarcane requires 10 to 12 months of intensive water management, labour, and capital before yielding revenue. When local milling guarantees vanished, the financial risk became untenable, sparking a massive agricultural migration.
Thousands of former cane growers shifted to livestock, pivoting to dairy farming to secure daily or weekly cash flows through local milk chilling centres. Others opted for short-cycle crops like paddy, maize, and tomato, which offer multiple harvests a year and significantly lower long-term capital risk.
While the Central Government continues to promote climate-resilient cane varieties and ethanol-blending incentives, local experts believe the damage in Chittoor and Tirupati is institutional rather than agricultural.
“The soil remains fertile and capable,” noted a senior regional cane officer. “But you cannot ask a farmer to invest in a 10-month crop when there isn’t a working chimney within a hundred kilometres. Without heavy state intervention to clear back-dues and rebuild cooperative infrastructure, sugarcane in Chittoor remains a chapter in history.”