Sugarcane Section
Sugarcane is an important cash crop of Pakistan. It is an important source of income and employment for the farmers. It also nourishes industries like sugar, chip board, paper, barrages, confectionery, chemicals, plastics, paints, synthetics, fiber, insecticides and detergents. The area under sugarcane is around 1 million hectares with an average yield of 45 to 50 tons/ha. It is very low compared to some advanced countries of the world where the average yield of sugarcane is around 60 metric tons/ha, while India and Egypt are getting around 66 tons and 82 tons/ha, respectively. Development and dissemination of improved high yielding varieties with higher quality and educating the farming folks would be steps taken in alleviating current yield scenarios.
Area and yield of sugarcane in some major cane growing countries |
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Country |
Area (000 ha) |
Cane yield (t/ha) |
Brazil |
4055 |
61.3 |
India |
2862 |
59.9 |
Cuba |
1350 |
49.6 |
China |
1060 |
53.9 |
Pakistan |
759 |
35.4 |
Mexico |
555 |
70.5 |
Thailand |
510 |
47.2 |
Philippines |
338 |
43.2 |
Columbia |
329 |
76.1 |
USA |
322 |
83.9 |
Australia |
310 |
82.0 |
Argentina |
300 |
46.6 |
Indonesia |
300 |
85.0 |
South Africa |
253 |
81.1 |
Bangladesh |
166 |
40.0 |
Vietnam |
160 |
39.1 |
D. Republic of Korea |
148 |
49.3 |
Egypt |
115 |
82.2 |
TOTAL |
15920 |
58.5 |
(www.gulfeconomist.com/SUGARCANE CULTIVATION-Cover2-issue-10-2001.htm)
In NWF Province of the country it is cultivated on an area of 0.1 million hectares with a production of 4.6 million tons. Its yield per hectare is 46 tons. The area of sugarcane under plant crop is around 60,000 hectare whereas under ratoon crop it is 40,000 hectare. In this way seed cane required for plant crop is 0.48 million tons.
Owing to these facts, sugarcane section of SCRI consists of three main components namely sugarcane breeding, sugarcane agronomy, and sugarcane seed multiplication. Salient objectives of the section are to screen sugarcane varieties/lines introduced both from within the country and abroad. Agronomy component focuses on development of crop production technology while seed multiplication component distributes seed of approved varieties among the farmers of the area.
Sugarcane Section Achievements
Breeding
Breeding section is mainly concerned with the procurement of germplasm in the form of true sugarcane seed (Fuzz) and setts both 
locally and from abroad. It is further screened at the experimental fields of SCRI for various years and evaluated for different agronomic and economic characters. As a result of these endeavors many varieties have been recommended for sugarcane growing area of the province.
List of Prominent Sugarcane Varieties released by SCRI, Mardan
S.No. |
Variety |
Cane Yield (T/ha) |
CCS% |
Maturity |
1. |
CP.51/21 |
60.00 |
11.00 |
Early |
2. |
CP/65/357 |
60.00 |
12.04 |
Early |
3. |
L.62/96 |
65.00 |
11.50 |
Early |
4. |
Co.1321 |
71.00 |
11.94 |
Early |
5. |
Mardan.92 |
75.00 |
12.17 |
Mid |
6. |
Bannu.1 |
70.00 |
12.00 |
Mid |
7. |
Mardan.93 |
72.00 |
12.43 |
Early |
8. |
CP.77/400 |
74.00 |
12.18 |
Mid |
9. |
Jn.88/1 |
70.00 |
12.69 |
Early |
10. |
Abid.96 |
70.00 |
12.46 |
Early |
11. |
Sn.98 |
72.00 |
12.21 |
Early |
12. |
SPSG.394 |
80.00 |
11.53 |
Mid |
13. |
MCP.421 |
80.00 |
12.54 |
Mid |
14. |
CP.72/2086 |
82.00 |
12.50 |
Early |
- 22 varieties have been developed since the establishment of this institute.
- Most recent varieties are Mardan92, Mardan-93, Bannu-1, CP-77/400, SPSG-394 and Mardan-2005.
- MCP 85-1491, MCP 80-1827 and MCP 91-582 are in pipeline.
- Intercropping of Sugarcane with Sugarbeet, Wheat, Garlic and Cucumber have been recommended.
- Arrangement of field days Radio/T.V talks as a mean of variety/technology dissemination.
Agronomy
The agronomy component of sugarcane is devoted to conducting experiments on refining various aspects of crop production technology for the varieties approved by the breeding section. As a result of these experiments the following recommendations have come out.
Land Preparation: Deep ploughing, leveling and use of Rotavator
Planting Time: Autumn plantation: September- October.
Planting Method: Row Spacing: 90cm, 3-budded double setts.
Seed depth: 3-5cm.
Seed Rate: 8 tons/ha.
Fertilizers: Plant crop: 150:100:100 kg N, P2O5, K2O /ha.
4.5 bags DAP/ha at planting time and 5 bags SOP+2.5 bags
Urea/ha in March/April with 2.5 bags urea/ha at earthing up.
Ratoon Crop: 175-200:100:100 kg N, P2O5, K2O/ha. 4.5 bags each DAP and SOP/ha with 2 bags urea/ha in March/April and 4 bags Urea/ha at earthing up.