Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
yield levels of the subtropics are to be improved. A large number
of improved high-yielding, well-adapted, location-specific vari-
eties are currently available. Uttar Pradesh ranks first in cane
area, accounting for over 40% of the total. The crop is grown
under a wide range of agro-climatic condition, and the produc-
tivity ranges from 25 t/ha in Chhattisgarh to 105 t/ha in Tamil
Nadu, while the average productivity in the country is about 65 t/
ha. The average sugar recovery in the country is about 10.2%.
Sixty to seventy percent of cane produced in the country is used
for sugar production, while the rest is used for seed, chewing,
juice and for the production of jaggery and khandsari. Sugarcane
has now emerged as a multiproduct crop used for food, fuel,
energy and fibre. Sugarcane is photosynthetically one of the
most efficient crop, fixing 2.3% of solar radiation. One hectare of
sugarcane may produce 100 tonnes of green matter every year,
which is more than twice the agriculture yield of most other
commercial crops. One hectare of sugarcane land with a yield of
82 t/ha produces about 7000 L of ethanol. Effective conversion
of bagasse to ethanol is a major research focus today. The global
availability of bagasse is estimated to be about 425 million tonnes
annually. This huge biomass can be an important feedstock for
the production of bio-ethanol. This is particularly important for
countries like India, where the scope for increasing the produc-
tion of ethanol from molasses or sugarcane juice is very limited.
However, the limitation so far had been the lack of cost-effective
technologies to convert bagasse to ethanol.
Yield gaps
The experimental maximum yield in sugarcane is 325 t/ha
which is hardly achieved, though individual farmers have reported
yields close to this. There is a wide gap in productivity between
the tropical and the subtropical regions of the country; the farm-
ers averaging about 82 t/ha in tropical and the later 56t/ha in
subtropical respectively (Yasuda et al. 1982).
produc tion
constraint
Sugarcane cultivation in the country falls under five agro-cli-
matic regions: peninsular, east coast, northwest, north central
and northeast zones. The productivity in each zone is affected
by a varied number of factors. The yield in subtropical India is
affected by the prolonged winter, which reduces the growing
period. Drought, waterlogging, salinity and alkalinity affect
cane production significantly in many states. Among the sugar-
cane disease, red rot is prevalent throughout the country and this
disease can cause substantial loss. The emergence and spread
of yellow leaf disease across the country is a major cause of
concern. Continued mono-cropping of sugarcane without crop
