Sugarcane: Develop Alternative Varieties for Red Rot

New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday asked ICAR scientists to develop alternate sugarcane varieties as the current variety 'CO 0238' has become susceptible to red rot disease.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was also directed to set up a separate team for this purpose.

"Controlling diseases is a critical challenge since new varieties often bring new disease risks," Chouhan said addressing an event here.

Sugarcane variety CO 0238 has good sugar content but is vulnerable to red rot disease, he said emphasising the need to work simultaneously on developing alternatives, an official statement said.

CO 0238 was launched in 2009 with moderate resistance to the prevalent races of red rot disease, which contributed to its rapid adoption by farmers in north India.

However, this resistance started to break down between 2020 and 2023, particularly due to the emergence of more virulent red rot pathotypes and unfavourable weather conditions.

Further, the minister also stressed the importance of bioproducts saying while ethanol and molasses have well-established uses, new value-added products need to be developed to increase farmers' profits.

He also underlined the potential of natural farming to help reduce fertilizer dependency.

Chouhan acknowledged the issues around the sugar value chain, stating that farmers' grievances about delayed payments are genuine.

While sugar mills face their own difficulties, he said, farmers remain at a disadvantage when payments are delayed.

He further highlighted the shortage of agricultural labour and suggested training and capacity building, along with innovations in mechanization, to make sugarcane harvesting less labour-intensive.

ICAR Director General and DARE Secretary M L Jat set out four key areas the research needs to address: defining research priorities, identifying developmental challenges to advance research, tackling industry-related issues, recommending policy steps to support the sector.

Devendra Kumar Yadav, Deputy Director General of Crop Science at ICAR, explained that sugarcane variety CO 0238 was initially welcomed by farmers but eventually encouraged mono-cropping.

"Although there are alternatives, new varieties take time to be adopted. Each variety undergoes three years of testing to monitor disease, insect resistance, and yield," he said.