Director’s Message

Greetings to all our stakeholders as we enter the summer season that coincides with the rainfall in many of our sugarcane growing areas. Under such conditions, ground cover becomes important, particularly for recently harvested fields that may be exposed to water runoff, with potential soil erosion. Soil condition and health are critical to sustainable sugarcane production, hence the need to ensure the soils are not entirely exposed to excessive water runoff.

Our theme in this edition is “Ensuring Good Ratoonability”.

We have chosen this theme as it relates to the choice of variety planted at any time. The ability of a sugarcane stalk (culm) to generate new culms during subsequent growing seasons after harvesting is known as ratooning. Different varieties express this ratooning ability in various ways, which has implications for further planting and yields. The choice of an appropriate variety becomes important for sustainable production.

In as much as soil health is critical for good sugarcane yields, weed management is important for soil crop nutrient flow. Agriculture production has typically been secured through effective weed management, often with agrochemical applications. In this edition we examine the sustainable use of agrochemicals, with a focus on the impending changes to regulations pertaining to certain chemicals.

As indicated above, variety selection is essential for successful and sustainable sugarcane production. Such knowledge requires the appropriate and targeted education and training, particularly for small-scale and land reform growers. Hence SASRI has been running modular courses that address our theme of ensuring good ratoonability.

This year also coincides with the celebration of many years of services by various SASRI laboratories. We celebrate the establishment and delivery of the Fertiliser Advisory Service (FAS) 70 years ago. In addition, SASRI established and provided sugarcane biosecurity using quarantine methods and facility in the last 40 years. These services have been instrumental for sustainable production of sugarcane in South Africa for many years.

We hope that as you read the various articles within this publication, the information and knowledge will enable sustainable production and better productivity, with better management practices.

At this time of the year, we wish all our sugarcane stakeholders a wonderful summer season and happy holidays.