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The buds
are scooped from the cane by bud chipper and the chipped buds are placed in
pro-trays filled with coir pith.
Sugarcane
is commercially planted using setts at the rate of 6-8 tonnes per hectare,
amounting to around 10 per cent of the total production. This large mass of
planting material creates logistical challenges in transportation and
storage of seed cane. The tissue culture technique, owing to its cumbersome
outfit and physical limitation, is turning out to be uneconomical.
A viable
alternative is bud chip technology, which reduces the mass and enables
quick multiplication of seeds. This method has proved to be more economical
and convenient than the traditional method of planting two to three bud
setts. The returns are relatively better, with substantial savings on the
seed material used for planting.
Sett
planting is a common practice in sugarcane cultivation. In recent times,
the bud chip settling method is becoming more popular among farmers. Bud
chip settling production was originally invented for seed multiplication
and breeder seed production. But over a period of time, it is being used as
planting material. Hence, all the farmers cannot take up their own
production for their requirement and they have to depend on sugar factories
or private producers. Making use of this opportunity, several farmers are
taking up the bud chip settling production as a small-scale enterprise.
SUCCESS
STORY
Murugayya
from Thathaiyangarpet block of Tiruchy district is one of the farmers who
took up bud chip settling production as a small-scale business. Aaraichi is
a small village in Musiri taluk of Tiruchy district in Tamil Nadu. He
maintains a separate unit to produce bud chip settlings. He employs 12
labourers and has constructed a shade net for the purpose.
The buds
are scooped from the cane by bud chipper and the chipped buds are placed in
pro-trays filled with coir pith. A pro-tray can hold 50 buds. The trays are
placed one above the other and are covered with gunny bags for a week. After
a week, the sprouted buds with the trays are transferred to green net
houses and kept there for three weeks with regular watering.
In the
traditional method of cutting the canes using a cane knife, the efficiency
is reported to be low and quality cutting of buds of sugarcane is hardly
achieved. Hence, to overcome this problem, he planned cutting of buds using
a bud chip cutter. The electrical sugarcane bud cutting machine is
generally equipped with a maximum 1 Hp electrical motor.
"Even
unskilled labourers can use this machine to cut the buds more finely and
efficiently. It saves time and manpower. However, the cost of the machine
is high at around Rs 52,000. This machine also consumes about 5 units of
power in 1 hour. Owing to the high cost and power consumption, this machine
is unaffordable to many farmers," Murugayya said.
COST-BENEFIT
ANALYSIS
For one
acre, the sugarcane settling requirement is 4,500 buds. The investment in
shade net is around Rs 75,000. The total expenditure incurred for various operations
annually is around Rs 70, 000. The annual income is about Rs 1.60 lakh.
Thus, he makes a profit of about Rs 90, 000.
By selling
one-month-old settling, the farmer earns Rs 2.50 and makes a profit of Re 1
per settling. By implementing this new method, the yield per acre is about
82 tonnes compared with the 60 tonnes per acre by the conventional method.
"I
produce settlings on demand. Before taking up the production, I will get
assurance from the factory and decide on the number of seedlings to be
produced,” Murugayya said.
GOVERNMENT
INITIATIVE
The Tamil
Nadu government is promoting Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) on a
larger scale. Under this project, bud chip settling is one of the major
recommendations. Hence, there is a high demand for bud chip settlings.
Sugar factories are encouraging farmers to take up settling production.
Farmers
with entrepreneurial skills are identified by factory personnel and are
being given training in chip settlings. After the training, farmers produce
bud chip settlings and sell to factories on a contract basis. Both the
farmers and the factories benefit from it.
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