Scientists, sugarcane farmers and others in the field should focus on using the tools of biotechnology to improve yields as well as recovery rate, according to Additional Director-General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Commercial Crops) N. Gopalakrishna.
He was addressing the delegates of the two-day group meeting of All-India Coordinated Research Project on Sugarcane at the inaugural session here on Friday. He exhorted scientists to work with other stakeholders to help develop climate-resilient agriculture. “There is a need to address issues such as mechanisation, soil improvement, deficiency of micronutrients and water logging specific to sugarcane cultivation,” he said.
He said that the ICAR was not consciously pushing for horizontal expansion of sugarcane. “We are not looking at making farmers shifting to sugarcane from other crops, but if any less used land is brought under the crop there is no objection to it,” he said.
Read the full, original story here: ‘Use biotech tools to improve sugarcane farming’
Additional Resources:
- “Development underway for first transgenic sugarcane plantation,” The Jakarta Post
- “Greener than green: Biotech and the future of agriculture (Part I),” Genetic Literacy Project
