Growth, Varietal Scenario and Seed Production of Sugarcane in India: Status, Impact and Future Outlook

AbstractSugarcane (Saccharum species complex) is an important industrial crop in India, and it contributed 6.8% to the total export earnings from agricultural products during 2020 –21. India ranked second after Brazil in terms of area and production of sugarcane and accounted for 17.5% and 19.4% of the global acreage and production, respectively. This paper presents the scenario of sugarcane growth in India during 1950–51 to 2020–21, varietal development, diversity in s eed chain and breeder seed production during the last 11 years. The area under sugarcane cultivation increased by 184.2% (1.71 mha in 1950–51 to 4.86 mha in 2020–21), while cane production registered an increase of 599.8% (57.05 MT in 1950–51 to 399.25 MT in 2020–21). An appreciable yield improvement (82.2 t/ha in 2020–21) compared to 33.4 t/ha in (1950–51) could be the major driver for such manifold increase in sugarcane production. The annual compound growth rate in the last decade was 4.67%, 10.33%, 10.70%, 6.78% and 11.71% for cane area, production, yield, sugar recovery and sugar production, respectively. The release and notification of 139 high yielding and high sugar content varieties by Central Sub-committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops since the notification was adapted in 1969, reflect robust sugarcane varietal d evelopment programme executed under the aegis of All India Coordinated Research Project on Sugarcane (AICRP-S). About ...
Source: European Journal of Applied Physiology - Category: Physiology Source Type: research