Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Red rot had been the bane of sugarcane farmers in the country for several years. But there is good news for them as scientists of the Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur, have developed a new variety of sugarcane that is red-rot resistant. Called Co Sha (Coimbatore/Shahjahanpur) 13235.

 “The KoSha 13235 variety of sugarcane is pest-resistant. And, each hectare under its cultivation can yield upto 1200 quintals,” Anil Singh, scientist, Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, told Gaon Connection. The seeds were developed at the research centre through tissue culture and are being distributed to sugarcane farmers on priority,” he added. 

“Our goal was to provide relief to farmers who were struggling with red rot in their sugarcane crop. It was after years of research that we came up with KoSha 13235 in 2019,” Sanjeev Kumar Pathak, scientist at the sugarcane research centre, told Gaon Connection. 

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“The challenge now is to reach the new variety of sugarcane to the farmers as speedily as we can. We are doing that on a war footing,” Pathak said. According to him, 300 quintals of seeds were distributed through the sugarcane societies and co-operatives. 

The farmers who have already received the new variety of sugarcane are on their part further disseminating the seeds to other farmers. “We have co opted the help of sugarcane farmers to combat and conquer red rot,” Pathak said.

“The health of a sugarcane variety suffers when it has been propagated for years on end. It becomes vulnerable to pests and its yield decreases too,” Veeresh Singh, associate director, Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, explained to Gaon Connection. He said it was observed how large swathes of sugarcane cultivation suffered from pest attacks and low yield because of the same variety being grown year after year.

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The Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research is also providing training in new techniques of sugarcane cultivation and processing and organising awareness drives for sugarcane cultivators and sugar mill workers that have helped them in quick diagnosis of crop disease, and find solutions that are beneficial to both those who grow the sugarcane and process the crop into sugar.

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Uttar Pradesh is the largest sugarcane producing state in the country. Between 1918 and 2021, the Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research has developed 230 varieties of sugarcane that are grown widely in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Read the story in Hindi.