MAXIMISATION OF SUGARCANE YIELDS AND REDUCTION OF PRODUCTION COSTS-A PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL

Abstract DECLINING cane yields coupled with increased costs of production pose great concern in today's Indian sugar indust~y. Hence, there is reason to look at some of the agronomic manipulations to reduce production costs and maximise yields. An experiment was conducted in vertisols of tropical India to evaluate the influence of row spacings of 90 (conventional), 120, and 150 cm and a dual row configuration spacing on cane and sugar yields using the varieties CoC671 and Co86032. The wider row spacing of 150 cm gave significantly higher cane yields (156.6 tlha) than the conventional row spacing (95.3 t/ha). The 120 cin row spacing and the dual row spacing also produced higher cane yields (123.4 t/ha and 114.8 t/ha, respectively) than the conventional row spacing. The higher yields at the wider row spacings were mainly due to a better survival of tillers, which resulted in taller stalks and improved stalk weight at harvest. The interactive effects between row spacings and varieties were significant for variety Co86032 by virtue of its higher tillering habit at row spacings of 120 cm and 150 cm, while CoC671 was more responsive at a row spacing of 120 cm. Due to higher cane yields and reduced cane seed costs, the 150 cin row spacing produced the highest cost:benefit ratio (1:2.3). A participatory rural appraisal conducted over an area of 418 ha confirmed the benefits of wider row spacings, as the altered row spacings produced cane yields that were 21.2 t/ha to 33.2 t/ha higher than the conventional 90 cm row spacing