RD&E Topics
Nineteen new SASRI projects were presented to industry for starting on 1 April 2026. Twelve of these projects were proposed in response to topics raised at regional Research, Development and Extension (RD&E) workshops during 2025. The details of the regional RD&E workshops planned for 2026 are provided below.
| Region | Date | Venue and Time | Contact Person |
| South Coast | 5 February | Paddock Farmers Club 10h00 – 13h00 |
Vanessa.Khumalo@sugar.org.za |
| Midlands | 10 February | Noodsberg Country Club 10h00 – 13h00 |
Janet.Edmonds@sugar.org.za |
| North Coast | 12 February | Umhlali Country Club 10h00 – 13h00 |
Thembeka.Nsibande@sugar.org.za |
| Mpumalanga | 17 February | Malelane Golf Club 10h00 – 13h00 |
Yolandi.VanStaden@sugar.org.za |
| Zululand | 24 February | Mimosa Court (Empangeni) 10h00 – 13h00 |
Michelle.Pretorius@sugar.org.za |
| Pongola | 3 March | Agrihub Hall 10h00 – 13h00 |
Elbie.Venter@sugar.org.za |
Remote Sensing of Field Boundaries
A complete and accurate crop field boundary inventory for the sugarcane industry is crucial for implementing precision agriculture and monitoring of land cover change. A current SASRI project is exploring the use of free-to-use Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, together with two proprietary field boundary detection algorithms. Reference datasets from Nkomazi and Midlands North are being used to train and evaluate the algorithms. One of these algorithms involves first downscaling the Sentinel-2 imagery from 10 m to 1 m resolution, an approach which has yielded good results (with accuracies above 98%), demonstrating strong potential for generating accurate, scalable field boundary datasets across the sugarcane industry.Â
Orange Rust Impact and Seasonal Risk Update
Recent field trials have confirmed that orange rust remains a significant threat to sugarcane production. Applications of a fungicide effectively suppressed disease severity in young cane, and unsprayed plots experienced substantially lower yields—26% in cane yield and 28% in RV yield.  Spore-trap monitoring further showed that orange rust pressure is highest from February to June. These findings highlight the importance of timely fungicide applications and ongoing surveillance. While Amistar Xtra® remains available for use against orange rust, additional chemistries will be evaluated in 2026, and results will support industry decisions on managing this disease.
Phosphorus Fertiliser Recommendations
Provision of phosphorus (P) fertiliser recommendations for sugarcane depend on accurate soil tests that are calibrated against plant response to P. A current SASRI project is comparing several P extraction methods (Bray 1 and 2, Mehlich 3 and Truog) and developing plant response calibration curves. Additional investigations in pot and field trials will assess extraction efficiency of these soil tests across soil types, considering pH, texture, and long-term P supply potential from the soil. Envisaged outcomes from the research include refined P fertiliser recommendations to growers and enhanced operational efficiency in the FAS laboratory.