From Coordinator's Desk

Water is a very precious natural resource and sugarcane is a high water requiring crop which ranges from 1400-2300 mm in subtropics and 2000-3500 mm in tropics. About 80% of its water requirement is met through ground water. The Central Ground Water Board has estimated that only 162 billion cubic metres (BCM)/yr of groundwater is available for future irrigation, out of which approximately 40 BCM/yr is available in the sugar-producing states. Sugarcane cultivation in 5.0 million ha area will require about 100 BCM of water/yr. Recently Maharashtra, A.P., Karnataka, Gujarat and western part of Uttar Pradesh faced acute water deficit and sugarcane crop in future may be in danger without adopting eco-friendly water saving/conserving approaches. Under fast depleting groundwater concerns and erratic nature of rainfall, the concept of ‘more crop per drop, required is to be made reality by way of adopting water saving technologies like drip irrigation, skip-furrow irrigation, trash mulching, irrigating crop at critical stages of growth and LASER leveling of the fields etc. By utilizing these eco-friendly and economically viable options, a substantive quantity of water can be saved which can be diverted for growing other crops. Looking in to the far reaching consequences of the problem, the AICRP on Sugarcane has already taken up the work on comprehensive manner which includes identifying sugarcane varieties and production technologies suitable for abiotic stress conditions like water-logging and drought.

There is a need of conserving the soil water through all possible means and minimize the field water losses by adopting recent technologies developed in this endeavor. The awareness programme under the concept ‘more crop per drop’ needs to be emphasized by State Governments and sugar mills under their command areas for speedy and effective adoption by the sugarcane growers. However, in the recent past a desirable change in the mind set of the progressive sugarcane growers towards saving ground water for irrigation is being noticed. Drip/sub-surface drip irrigation is a precise, slow and frequent water application method through point or line source emitters on or below the soil surface, resulting in partial wetting of the soil surface. Under AICRP(S) research programmes on sub-surface drip method of irrigation has given promising results. Fertigation with drip resulted in 25% saving of nitrogen compared with surface irrigation. However, with the application of 100% RDN in drip irrigation, sugarcane productivity can further be enhanced. Surface and sub-surface drip irrigation can save water up to 40% besides additional improvement in crop productivity by 20%. Adoption of skip-furrow/alternate furrow irrigation effectively saves irrigation water by 30–40% without reduction in cane yield.