Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding

SOME VITAL STEPS ESSENTIAL TO REINFORCE THE VARIETAL SECTOR OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN INDIA

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IN India, sugarcane is the only raw material used in the second largest industry in
the country, sugar manufacture. Even with the phenomenal growth of this industry
during the last three decades (which has been very largely due to the high yielding,
rich seedling varieties evolved at the Sugarcane Breeding Station, now Institute,
Coimbatore), the country is in an unenviable position in respect of cane and sugar
production per acre which are near about the lowest in the world. No wonder then
that, in spite of the advantage of large acreage and very cheap labour, sugar production in India is costlier than in other countries like U.S.A., Hawaii and West Indies,
and that the country's self-sufficiency in respect of sugar is still vulnerable. As is
well known, this is largely due to the fact that about 80 per cent. of the area under
sugarcane lies in the subtropical belt in the north, where climatic conditions are very
unfavourable for crop growth and result in a decline in quality in the latter part of
the season. The near-primitive methods of crop production generally employed in
that area are, perhaps, no less to blame.
  

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Year: 1961
Volume: 21
Issue: 2
Article DOI: NA
Print ISSN: 0019-5200
Online ISSN: 0975-6906

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