by Ji Jing

 

BEIJING, March 9 (China Economic Net) - From 2019 to 2020, Pakistan's overall sugarcane production dropped from 67.17 million tons to 64.77 million tons, a decrease of 3.8%. In addition, the total area of sugarcane planted in this period is 1.06 million hectares, which was a decrease of 40,000 hectares compared to 1.1 million hectares the previous year. What are the current problems of sugarcane planting in Pakistan? To this end, we made a special trip to a sugarcane farm in Pakistan.

 

 

Khadim Hussain said his father owns 32 acres of land, out of which he used to cultivate 20 acres and on the remaining 12 acres, he used to cultivate fodder or wheat. However, now he only cultivates seven to eight acres, and has stopped sugarcane cultivation on the remaining land. "People are also heartbroken due to this," he added.

 

High sugarcane yield is realizable by the use of two to three sacks of high quality fertilizer per acre, while eight sacks of poor quality fertilizer is needed to achieve the same effect. In addition, mechanical equipment is also important to Pakistan's sugarcane farmers. In this regard, we consulted local farmers.

 

"The machinery we have will damage the sugarcane base from the soil. There should be such machinery that will not destroy the base of sugar cane in the soil. In this way, the cane will not fall and the weight of the cane will increase," said Khadim Hussain.

 

Imran Saeed, another sugarcane farmer from Pakistan, said "this is our wish or request to the current government and to China that good machinery should be introduced to us. It's our demand as well that if there is a new seed, China may support us and introduce this to us and we try to plant it."

 

For this, we interviewed Lin Shuiqi, NPC Deputy, Vice-Chairman of Guangdong Federation of Industry & Commerce, Chairman of Zhanjiang Federation of Industry & Commerce, as well as Chairman of Guangdong Jinling Group in China.

 

 

 

Seed industry is a key component of agriculture. The 14th Five-Year Plan emphasizes the importance of seed source research. In recent years, under the joint efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the industry, we have made rapid progress in the upgrading and R&D of sugarcane seeds, combined with climate conditions, soil conditions and growth cycle. At the same time, we are actively promoting improved sugarcane varieties, he said.

 

In addition, the sugar mills guide farmers in sugarcane planting to improve their knowledge and ability. In case of extreme weather changes, such as drought, frost and other disasters, there should be specific rescue measures.

 

 

Small sugarcane harvesters are preferred in China, and farmers mainly harvest ratoon sugarcane. "Relatively mature and deeply rooted, its root systems can avoid damage," Lin explained. 

 

The sugar mills will actively communicate with the farmers, integrate small plots of land into a whole for mechanical land leveling. During mechanical harvesting, there is certain requirement for row spacing, which should be suitable for harvesting, Lin said.

 

When harvesting, try to choose sugarcane that grows well, and harvest on a clear day. Under these two conditions, the harvest quality will be greatly improved. The lodging sugarcane can be harvested by hand, Lin added.

 

Sugarcane harvesting is mainly done by cutting harvester and whole stalk harvester. The sugarcane cutting harvester has strong applicability, but as the following crushing operation can not keep up, it is easy to cause different degrees of decay at the cut after a long time, causing a great impact on the actual quality of sucrose. The whole stalk sugarcane harvester can avoid decay at the cut, yet it is inefficient for the lodging sugarcane field. It's recommended to adopt the mode of "cutting type as the main and whole stalk harvesting as the supplementary" in sugarcane harvesting.

 

 

In 2014, a 30,000-mu sugar demonstration base featuring high yield and sucrose content was built in Laibin City, China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In 2015, it was extended to the whole region of Guangxi to develop a 800,000-mu base. We’ve basically realized large-scale operation, improved seed cultivation, mechanization of production and modernization of water conservancy, and strive to achieve an average yield of 8 tons per mu and sucrose content of more than 14%.

 

Lin Shuiqi shared the following experiences of sugarcane planting in China. 

 

First, scientific research institutions, sugar mills and agricultural chemical companies actively cooperate to guide farmers to use pesticides and chemical fertilizers rationally according to soil properties, climatic conditions and sugarcane characteristics. 

 

Second, for the lack of machinery and equipment, we can support sugar mills, and the government should offer purchase subsidies for the production equipment and related supporting facilities. At the same time, we should give full play to the supporting role of financial institutions in supporting the real economy and develop more flexible and richer loan products. 

 

Next, ensure the construction of sugarcane planting infrastructure, especially irrigation system

 

Fourthly, crop rotation can be adopted to improve soil nutrients and avoid repeated planting of sugarcane and soil hardening due to excessive use of chemical fertilizer.