Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare visited the ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore. He applauded the crossing facilities of the National Sugarcane Breeding Programme being utilized by 24 Research Stations spread across the country. Rupala also accentuated on the need for developing the small harvesters to cut the canes from every row with ease of operation.
The Minister urged to be more self-reliant by generating additional revenue. He also suggested a possibility of growing rotational crops in the research fields and planting more horticultural crops along the pavements.
He also visited the fields of the Divisions of Crop Improvement and Crop Production and disease screening facility of the Division of Crop Protection.
Dr. Bakshi Ram, Director, ICAR-SBI highlighted the activities of National Hybridization Garden. He also briefed about the Institute’s achievements with special emphasis on Co 205, the first sugarcane hybrid that created sugar revolution way back in the Year - 1918 to the present day subtropical wonder Co 0238. The variety has improved the average yield of Uttar Pradesh by 19 t / ha and sugar recovery by 2.28 units. The Co 0238 has improved the livelihood of lakhs of farmers and workers engaged in the sugarcane agriculture in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar.
