With successful implementation System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in various parts of the country, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has now come out with a Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative to improve productivity of water, land and labour.

The SSI would improve the productivity of water, land and labour, all at the same time, while reducing the overall pressure on water resources, since the method involves using less seeds, less water and optimum utilisation of fertilisers and land to achieve more yield, B J Pandian, Director, Water Technology Centre, TNAU, told reporters here today.

As against the 40 tonnes of sugarcane production from one acre land using 75,000 two budded sets in conventional method, a farmer will be able to take a production of 90 tonnes of millable canes by adopting SSI method, using 12,500 single budded chips.

Further, SSI will be a suitable option to solve the present problems of increasing seed cost, labour cost and other soil fertility and productivity related issues and there would be 0.2 per cent increase in the recovery from the cane, from the present 8.5 to 11 per cent, he said.

This would be a boon to farmers and also sugar industry, since the area was expected to shrink and availability of water would be less in the long run and moreover, the system was suitable for inter-crops like blackgram, greengram and also chilli, he said.

India ranks second in the World after Brazil in terms of area of 4.1 million hectare and 355 million tonnes of sugarcane production. Tamil Nadu produced 357 lakh tonnes of sugarcane and 25.40 lakh tonnes of sugar from an area of 3.05 lakh hectare.

Tamil Nadu Government, with 42 sugar mills in the State, has targeted to add 50,000 acre annually in the 12th plan under SSI, Pandian said.

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