Cane-ovate workshop organized at ICAR - Sugarcane Breeding Institute
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Interpersonal communication among the sugarcane farmers is a significant means by which farmers obtain information related to innovations in sugarcane farming leading to improvement in sugarcane productivity and profitability, said Shri. Harmandar Singh IAS., Additional Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Sugar, Government of Tamil Nadu in his valedictory address at the Cane-ovate workshop held at ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore.
ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, in association with the Society for Sugarcane Research and Development (SSRD) organized ‘Cane-ovate’ (portmanteau of Cane + innovate), a National-level workshop for innovative sugarcane farmers of the country, on 26 October 2021 in ‘hybrid’ mode.
Giving away the awards to the innovative farmers, the Commissioner of Sugar in his address, congratulated ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute for organizing this important workshop whose major aim is ‘listening to the farmers’.
Referring to the innovative farmers of Tamil Nadu and other states participating in ‘Cane-ovate’, as the ‘brand ambassadors’ of sugarcane farming, the Commissioner mentioned that their experiences need to be necessarily shared among other farmers who lag behind in achieving higher yields. Farmer-to-farmer communication is the most effective way to ensure adoption of scientific technologies compared to scientist-farmer or administrator-farmer communication, he added. This would fasten the pace of dissemination of technologies and ensure improved productivity and income, he said.
Once the pandemic is over, exposure visits and study tours need to be organized for the sugarcane farmers of Tamil Nadu to gain from the experiences of the farmers of other states of the country and vice-versa, he suggested. In spite of the constraints and limitations such as poor soil conditions, water shortage, high cost of inputs and machinery, the innovative farmers who are participating in the workshop, had excelled in sugarcane farming through their innovative approaches, which should be emulated by other farmers, he added.
Referring to the receipt of good rainfall in Tamil Nadu, marginal increase in sugar price, increase in cane area and the introduction of new ethanol policy, the Commissioner was optimistic that these factors could help in improving the sugar sector and the profitability of the sugarcane farmers in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Highlighting the need for the conduct of similar workshops for farmers, Dr. Bakshi Ram, former Director, ICAR-SBI and President, SSRD in his address said that ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore along with its regional centres has been making tremendous impact in the lives of sugarcane farmers with its varieties and technologies over the years. The Co 0238 variety developed at the Institute alone was instrumental in improving the average sugarcane yield by 20t/ha at regional level and about 10 t/ha at national level. The farmers of Uttar Pradesh could improve their income by Rs.62921/ha by growing this variety. The ‘participatory seed production’ programme of the Institute had doubled the income of the seed farmers, he added. A publication of the profile of the workshop participants would be brought out shortly, he added.
Dr. G.Hemaprabha, Director, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute in her Presidential address mentioned that over 78 % of the cane area in the country is occupied by the ‘Co’ varieties developed at the Institute. Informing the house that a farmer from Satara district, Maharashtra has named his new house as ‘86032 Chi Krupa’ (Gift of Co 86032 variety) she said that the Institute -developed Co 86032 still dominates the sugarcane scene in the tropical states while Co-0238 variety dominates the sub-tropical states of the country. Referring to the case of one of the workshop participants, Shri 'Bullet' Pulavendran, a visually-challenged innovative farmer from Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu who had to discontinue his 20th sugarcane ratoon due to wild boar menace and that of another young innovative farmer , Shri N Nataraj, from Sathyamangalam, Erode district, who has fabricated a mobile-based acoustic device to ward off wild boars, Dr Hemaprabha advised the Erode farmer to commercialize his repellent device and make it available in the market so that all farmers would be benefitted. Dr. C.Palaniswami, Head, Division of Crop Production, Shri S.K. Sachdeva, Vice-President, SSRD, Dr.K.Hari, Principal Scientist and Dr. R.Karuppaiyan Principal Scientist & Secretary, SSRD also spoke on the occasion.
Presenting the workshop report during the valedictory session, Dr. D Puthira Prathap, Principal Scientist, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute and Workshop co-ordinator informed that 36 innovative farmers from different parts of the country [Karnataka (5), Andhra Pradesh (5), Odisha (2), Telangana (5), Uttar Pradesh (2), Madhya Pradesh (1), Punjab(1), Bihar (1) ,Maharashtra(1) and Tamil Nadu (13) ] had participated in the workshop and shared their valuable experiences in developing and practicing innovative methods in sugarcane agriculture. A few farmers had demonstrated their innovations at the workshop venue, he said. These farmers had successfully practised ‘process’ innovations, ‘product’ innovations, reinventions and ‘marketing’ innovations (entrepreneurship) in eight aspects of sugarcane farming such as, Organic cultivation, mechanization, Micro-irrigation/Drip fertigation, Technology package for higher yields, Ratoon management, Vertebrate pest management & bio-control, Seed production/entrepreneurship and Intercropping, he added.
The participating farmers were taken on field visits, exposed to ICAR-SBI technologies which had been commercialized and given seed material of the popular variety, Co 11015.
