This document discusses constraints and strategies in sugarcane production. It outlines several constraints facing sugarcane farmers globally and in Sri Lanka, including environmental stresses, lack of quality seed, yield plateaus, late planting, and low irrigation availability. Strategies to overcome these constraints are proposed, such as developing improved varieties, proper ratoon crop management, advanced farming systems, increased mechanization, new irrigation techniques, and addressing issues specific to Sri Lankan conditions like labor and transportation costs. The document concludes by stating that sugar cane is an important global crop but faces many problems that can be solved using modern technology.

2. Contents
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 Introduction
 World scenario
 Sri lankan scenario
 Constraints in sugar production
 Strategies for overcome
 Over view of sri lankan conditions
 Conclusion
 References

3. Introduction
Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids) is an important
agro-industrial commercial crop
Sugarcane is a tall growing, monocotyledonous, ratoon
crop plant that is cultivated in the tropical and subtropical
regions of the world
 Primarily, it stores high concentrations of sucrose, or
sugar, in the internodes of the stem
An also old energy source for human beings and more
recently is a replacement of fossil fuel for motor vehicles
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4. World scenario
 Worldwide sugarcane occupies an area of 20.42 million ha
with a total production of 1333 million metric tons (FAO,
2011)
 Sugarcane area and productivity differ widely from country
to country
 Brazil has the highest area (5.343 million ha), while
Australia has the highest productivity (85.1 tons/ha) Out of
121 sugarcane producing countries
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5. Sri lankan scenario
 The annual per capita consumption of sugar in Sri Lanka is
around 30 kg and the total annual requirement of sugar in the
country is around 550,000 t but, only about 50,000 t are
produced locally (Ariyawansha., 2012)
 widespread sugar cultivations are in Kantale, Hingurana,
Sevanagala, and Pelwatta areas. Altogether 30,000 ha has
been cultivated with sugarcane and over 25,000 families are
engaged in sugar cultivation (Keerthipala, 2011)
 Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) is the only crop cultivated
in Sri Lanka for manufacture of sugar
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6. Constraints in sugar production
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 Environmental constraints
 Non-availability of quality seed
 Yield plateau
 Late-planting
 Non-synchronised tillering
 Low irrigation water availability
 Lack of suitable varieties
 Sustainability of crop
 Uneconomic ratoon crop
 Low sprouting in sub-tropics region
 Sucrose losses in field, cane centres and sugar mills
 Constraints in sugarcane mechanization
 Field burning
 Financial and managerial constraints

7. Constraints in sugar production
Environmental constraints
 Improved varieties have played a major role in increasing cane
productivity
 These varieties are generally selected under optimal
conditions
 Hence those varieties may not be able to tolerate the
unfavorable weather conditions
 In addition, wide fluctuation in the yield and sugar recovery in
tropics and sub-tropics is observed primarily due to weather
conditions
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8. Biotic constraints which limit cane productivity are
Weeds
Diseases
Pests
 Abiotic constraints are
Drought
Flood
Salt stress (salinity and alkalinity)
Frost, low temperature
Mineral deficiency and wind injury
 These stresses singly or in combination affect quality
and cane yield
Environmental
constraints
Biotic
Abiotic
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9. Non-availability of quality seed
 Being a vegetatively propagated crop, cane setts carry
many serious diseases such as red rot, smut. GSD,
RSD, etc
 Another related constraint to this is low seed
multiplication ratio (1:10)
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10.  This constraint hinders rapid multiplication and
spread of new varieties
 Planting techniques such as STP (Spaced
Transplanting method) and micropropagation are
now being promoted in some areas to overcome
this problem
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11. Yield plateau
 Development of sugarcane varieties in the past has
played an important role in increasing cane productivity
 As the recent findings shows that there is a negative
correlation between CANE PRODUTION AND SUGAR
OUTPUT,
 Hence, the major objective today is to improve both
yield and sucrose content in genotypes
 Therefore, for further improvement, one of the major
challenges to sugarcane breeders is to modify breeding
approaches to break the yield and sugar plateau 11

12. Late-planting
 There are three major planting seasons for sugarcane.
They are spring, autumn and late-planting (April/May)
 In the western region of the sub-tropical zone, there is a
practice to plant sugarcane after harvesting of
wheat.This pushes the planting of sugarcane into the
summer months
 Due to late-planting, the early growth phase is subjected
to high temperature (40-45 °C) and water stress, which
impedes tillering pattern and consequently the number
of millable stalks
12

13. Non-synchronised tillering
 Tillering is the largest growth phase in sugarcane
because millable cane forming tillers continue to
emerge till 120 days
 Among the total tiller population,
only 25-35% of tillers form
millable canes or economic
product
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14.  Tillers emerged during early phase (March- April) form
about 70% of millable cane. However, tiller emergence
continues followed by mortality which is a pure
economic waste of plant energy.
 However, the technology of "Synchronized Tillering " to
obtain uniform crop stand is yet to be developed.
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15. Low irrigation water availability
 Adequate available moisture throughout the growing
period is important for obtaining maximum yields
 Because vegetative growth including cane growth is
directly proportional to the water transpired
 Depending on climate, water requirement of
sugarcane is 1500 to 2500 mm evenly distributed over
the growing season
.
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16.  The graph below depicts the crop stages of sugarcane, and
the main crop coefficients used for water management.
16V.M.kulkarni and D.warne

17. Lack of suitable varieties
 The sugarcane research system has evolved and
released a number of sugarcane varieties for
commercial cultivation
 which have made significant improvement to sugar
productivity
 However, the present day varieties are unable to
meet the complete demand of sugarcane growers
and sugar industry
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18.  This is largely due to the extension of cane cultivation
into marginal and sub-marginal soils, unirrigated areas,
and extension of crushing duration to about 180 days
 This requires a wide spectrum of varieties suitable for
early milling till late crushing period
 The field stability of many newly developed varieties, is
therefore, a major issue in the cane production plan
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19. Sustainability of crop
 Sugar cane is a giant crop producing huge quantity of
biomass and therefore its nutrient needs are high
 Sugarcane is grown on various soil types, most of
them are deficient in N and a few of them are deficient
in P and K
 On average, a sugarcane crop ( 100 t/ha) removes
208 kg N, 53 kg P and 280 kg K , in addition to other
major and micronutrients from the soil (Indian Institute
of Sugarcane Research)
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20.  The extensive cultivation has made most of the
sugarcane soils deficient in N,P and K and many macro-
and micro-nutrients
 At present, nutrient replenishment is prohibitive due to
reduction in subsidy and high cost of cane production
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21. Uneconomic ratoon crop
 The average cane production is greatly influenced by
ratoon yield which contributes over 30% of the total
sugarcane production
 Productivity of ratoon crop is 10 to 30 percent less than
the plant crop of sugarcane
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22.  One of the major reasons of low yield is the poor
management of the ratoon crop
 Therefore farmers consider it as a "Gift Crop " and in
most of the cases recommended cultivation practices
are not followed, resulting in poor yield and quality of
successive ratoons
22

23. Low sprouting in sub-tropics
region
 Usually 2 to 3 bud setts are used as planting material
 In tropical cane growing areas about 70-80% sprouting
takes place whereas in sub-tropics it never exceeds 30-
40%
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24.  This results in a poor stand of crop which subseqently
affects cane productivity
 The studies conducted by Solomon et al (1993) have
shown that pre-harvest foliar application of ethephon (at
500 mg/L) induced better sprouting of cane buds from
treated setts under sub-tropical conditions
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25. Sucrose losses in field, cane
centres and sugar mills
 The national approach to sugarcane cultivation is to
maximize sugar production in time, space and inputs
 The major causes of sucrose loss through inversion
are harvest-to-crush delays and the temperature
 There is no scientific harvesting and crushing
schedule in many cane growing areas
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26. Constraints in sugarcane
mechanization
 Sugarcane requires very high input of labour for
various cultural operations
 There has been little adoption of machines for
operations such as sett cutting, planting,
harvesting, loading, etc.
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27.  Mechanization of these operations will drastically cut
down the labour requirement and cost of operations
 This will also help in timely operations, which are
otherwise difficult under present crop husbandry
practices
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28. Field burning
 Burning of sugar cane is a major issue
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29. Financial and managerial
constraints
 Small-scale sugarcane growers (SSGs) form an integral
part of the sugar industry
 In recent past, cost of cultivation of sugarcane has
increased many fold due to higher cost of fertilizers,
pesticides and other inputs
 Deviation from the recommended package of practices
results in loss of quality and yield of sugarcane
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30. 30

31.  Development of improved varieties capable of giving higher
yield of cane and sugar along with
Good field stability,
Resistance to important diseases and pests,
And good ratooning ablity
 In future, some new modern approaches will have to be
taken up to supplement the conventional breeding
programme
Strategies for overcome
Development of improved varieties
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32. Proper ratoon management
 Ratooning is a practice of growing a crop from the stubbles
of previous crop
 Varieties like Co 8013, Co 6907, Co 8014, 85A261, has
good ratooning ability
 Importance of Ratoon
i) Ratoon saves cost on preparatory tillage and planting material
ii) It gets benefit of residual manure and moisture
iii) Ratoon crop matures earlier and gives a good
yield in fearly ratoon cycles
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33. Use advance sugarcane farming
system
 DAVCO Farming has developed a unique and
innovative sugarcane farming system that integrates a
number of world leading technologies
 The system incorporates the following practices
Yield Mapping
Variable Rate Application
Optimum Surface Land forming
Weed Mapping
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34. 34

35. Mechanization in sugar cane cultivation
Sugarcane planter
Sugarcane Detrasher
Sugarcane Crusher
Earthing up Ridger
Sugarcane Stubble shaver
Ratoon Manager
Weeder
Sugarcane harvester
 Mechanization is a process through which agricultural
activities can be improved and optimum crop production can
be achieved
 The mechanical inputs currently used in different farming
activities in sugar cane are pump for irrigation, powertiller and
tractor, disc plough, disc harrow, subsoiler for tillage
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36. 36

37. Use new irrigation and fertilization
technique
Drip and sprinkler system
 Drip irrigation around the globe enable to double the yields while
saving 20-40% water,30% fertilizers compare to furrow irrigation
 Furthermore, drip irrigation accounts for the improvement in
sucrose content compared to conventional furrow and overhead
sprinkler irrigation
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38. Over view of sri lankan
conditions
 At present, Sri Lanka spend US$ 170 million annually on
importing sugar and value added products derived from
sugarcane
 At present the major issue in the Sugarcane industry in Sri Lanka
is the increasing cost of production
 This is mainly due to the high labor and transport costs and also
increasing fertilizer prices
 Inadequate labor supply during the harvesting period also affects
sugar recovery leading to lower sugar yields and higher costs
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39. 39
Sources : Department of Census and Statistics

40.  Low productivity and low incomes for the growers
 Water availability is unpredictable
 Inability of farmers in deploying new harvesting machines
owing to closer spacing of seedlings in traditional methods
 The improved varieties released by research institutions
perform well in the initial years but lose their vigor and
decline in yield in due course
 Less Mechanized plantations and harvest of cane crop
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41. Conclusion
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 Sugar cane industry is a demanded production in
the world,but there are many problems in it
 We can take necessary steps to solve the
problems in this industry using modern technology

42. References
 Anonymous (1976) National Commission on Agriculture
(1976). Part IV. pp. 146-156.
 http://www.sugarres.lk/
 Muchow RC, Wood AW, Robertson MJ (1995) Does stalk
death set the yield ceiling in high-yielding sugarcane crops?
Proceedings of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane
Technologists, 1995 Conference, p. 142.
 Sundara B,sugarcane cultivation(1998).Senior
scientist(Agronomy)sugarcane breeding institute
,Coimbatore.
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