Question

Give geographical reasons for the following.
It is necessary to crush sugarcane within 24 hours of harvesting.

Answer 1

Hint: The main season for growing sugarcane is December to May. Sugarcane belongs to the family Gramineae, a crop widely grown in India contributing to the growth of the rural economy.

Complete Step by Step Answer: Sugarcane contains sucrose, which needs to be crushed within 24 hours after harvesting as it starts deteriorating when left out in the heat. The sugarcane plant loses its ability to synthesise sucrose once it is detached from the ground and thus the level of sucrose starts to decline, reducing the sugar content of the mature cane.

The juice quality and also the productivity of sugarcane is greatly influenced by weather conditions. When the weather is dry with low humidity sugar recovery during this time is relatively high with bright sunshine hours, cool nights and very little rainfall. These conditions favour the high accumulation of sugar. The juice quality deteriorates in very high as well as very low temperatures.

Note: Sugarcane is one of the important cash crops grown in the country. Major sugarcane producing states in India are Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, southern parts of India, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.