Delineation of Efficient Cropping Zone for Sugarcane over the Southern Indian States.

Sugarcane is an important cash crop, contributing to 4.6 per cent of total agricultural output. In a few regions, though sugarcane had widespread area, the productivity is very less. In a few other regions, the productivity is very high but acreage under sugarcane is low. This warrants delineation of effective cropping zones for sugarcane. District wise statistics on area, production and productivity of sugarcane for southern Indian states was collected to compute Relative Spread Index (RSI) and Relative Yield Index (RYI) to classify the zones into Most Efficient Cropping Zone (MECZ), Area-Efficient Cropping Zone (AECZ), Yield Efficient Cropping Zone (YECZ) and Inefficient Cropping Zone (IECZ). Analysis indicated that the maximum efficient cane growing zone is in Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Sugarcane is not preferred in Kerala due to the prevailing climatic conditions. This analysis helps in the identification of options for improving the sugarcane area and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]