Three new sugarcane varieties introduced

• These varieties will give 40pc more yield and require 30pc less water to complete the growth cycle

FAISALABAD: Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) has introduced three new varieties of sugarcane which would give 40 per cent more yield as compared to the existing varieties.

This was stated by AARI Director General Dr Abid Mahmood while talking to APP here on Saturday. He said that Pakistan was the 5th largest sugarcane producing country in the world. However, the average yield of the country was far less than its potential.

He said water shortage and climatic changes were posing serious threats to the production of sugarcane, adding that in order to combat these challenges and to enhance the production of sugarcane, the scientists of Sugarcane Research Institute of AARI have evolved three new varieties of sugarcane, including CPF-250, CPF-251 and CPF-253, which would give 40pc more yield and require 30pc less water to complete the growth cycle.

Responding to a question, he said the area under sugarcane cultivation was reducing due to water shortage, marketing issues and encouragement of other cash crops by the government.

“Only in Punjab, the area under sugarcane cultivation has decreased by 27pc in one year,” he lamented, adding that this situation may cause a negative impact on the commodity.

He said that newly-devolved varieties were successfully tested by the scientists of the institute under different agro-ecological zones and were expected to be approved for mass cultivation by the Punjab Seed Council next month.