Sweeter deal

Better growth: A new planting method developed by the Sugarcane Research Station in Tamil Nadu, India, requires sugarcane buds to be grown into one-month-old seedlings before being planted in the field. - TAN CHENG LI / The Star

Innovations give sugarcane farmers in India a boost.

SUGARCANE is a major crop in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with 3.5 million hectares under cultivation. The huge sprawl of sugarcane fields is what makes India the world’s second largest sugar producer, after Brazil. The farms, however, are dogged by environmental problems such as water shortages, degraded soil, poor yields, and rising cultivation costs.