ICAR – SBI Licensed Sugarcane Cutter Planter to Pishon Technologies

The ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu licensed the developed Sugarcane Cutter Planter to a Coimbatore-based Start-Up - Pishon Technologies.

The Planter is suitable for the Southern States of the country has been developed in collaboration with the ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. 

Sugarcane planting is very time, labor & drudgery oriented operation carried out with conventional tools and equipment which ultimately increase the cost of operation and reduce the net profit to the growers. In such situation, Sugarcane cutter planter is of great help to the farmers. These help in complete mechanization of sugarcane planting systems. 

Sugarcane Cutter Planter- Functions 

In her address, Dr. G. Hemaprabha, Director, ICAR-SBI, Coimbatore stated that the Cutter Planter would perform 7 labor & time intensive operations

• Opening of furrow (a groove made in the soil to plant Sugarcane setts and to irrigate)

• Cutting of Sugarcane setts (sections of Sugarcane stem with one or more buds)

• Dropping of setts in the furrow

• Applying fertilizers

• Applying fungicide or insecticide solutions on the setts and soil surface

• Covering of setts and pressing the soil lightly

She also outlined that the deep furrow Sugarcane Cutter Planter has been designed and developed for adjustable wide row spacing (4 feet and 5 feet) and is capable of planting in heavy clayey soils in the Southern States of the country. 

The machine has been demonstrated successfully in the major sugarcane growing Districts of Tamil Nadu, viz., Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi and Erode Districts.  

The Planter would require 11 times less labor than the conventional planting method, while the cost of planting could be reduced by about 53%, using the Planter.  

Using the machine would improve the timeliness of planting operations, reduce human drudgery and improve the overall production efficiency in Sugarcane Agriculture.