Issues confronting sugarcane cultivation was the focus of a two-day meeting of sugarcane research and development workers of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry which opened here on Friday.
It was organised by ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, and Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Sugars (VV Sugars) to discuss issues in sugarcane cultivation such as low productivity, wild boar and rodent menace, mechanisation, besides new cane varieties and seed nursery programme. An exhibition displaying recent and popular sugarcane varieties, farm machines, drip irrigation technologies and a bio-acoustic device to ward off wild boars was also organised, according to a release from Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Sugars.
Inaugurating the meet, A. Ramamourti, Director of Agriculture, Puducherry, said farmers were losing interest in raising sugarcane owing to drought, shortage of labour, incidence of pest and diseases and high cost of cultivation. Research institutes, in collaboration with sugar factories, should identify reasons for low yield and declining sugar recovery in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Introducing short-duration varieties, encouraging community farming and custom hiring of machineries, including harvesters, could improve and sustain sugarcane productivity, he said.
Bakshi Ram, Director of ICAR-SBI, said sugarcane yield and sugar production in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry remained low owing to adverse climatic conditions and water shortage. There had been a marginal improvement this season.
Chenthil Rajan, Managing Director, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Sugars, said sugarcane yield had not improved significantly in the past 40 years unlike rice and other crops.
P. Chandran, Joint Director of Agriculture, S.Suresh, Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, and N. Chinnappan, Executive Director, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Sugars, spoke.
