What do you understand by sustainable sugar Initiative (SSI)? Discuss its main principles and methods?

Model Answer: SSI was jointly launched by ICRISAT and WWF to reduce and optimize the use of water and other inputs in sugarcane production. It is a system of various practices and principles including

  • using single budded sets from healthy mother cane instead of 2/3 budded sets for raising nursery, to get higher percentage of germination.
  • Transplantation of 25-30 days young saplings to main fields
  • Maintaining wide space keeping optimal distance between two rows to support easy air and sunlight penetration.
  • Water management using furrow or drop irrigation instead of inundation of water.
  • Low use of chemical fertilizers’ and higher use of organic methods
  • Intercropping for optimum utilization of land.

The optimal utilization of water becomes a major issue in those areas where irrigated crops and dry land farming are mixed. For example cultivation of irrigated crops such as rice/ sugarcane and dry land crops such as sorghum/millet on same watershed would result in a challenge to use the water optimally for both; because while former are water guzzling crops; too much water to the later is waste of this scarce resource. Any water reduction to thirsty crops such as sugarcane will have a positive impact on the dry land agriculture in the same region. This is the basic philosophy behind the Sustainable Sugar Initiative (SSI). (220 words)

Originally written on June 17, 2023 and last modified on October 27, 2024.

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