1. NIRMAN is a grassroots environmental action group
works for the conservation of bio-diversity; promotes
ecological agriculture & sustainable livelihood models
through livelihood related functional literacy system
Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative
Prasant Mohanty,
NIRMAN
www.nirmanodisha.org
SDTT Partner’s meet
Raipur , 22 March, 2014

2. Sugarcane in Odisha…

3. Problems of Sugarcane Farmers
• Rising cost of cultivation- Economic unviable
• Low market price
• Water table depleting year after year (1500-3000
litres/1 kg of cane)
• Unavailability of good quality seed material
• Increased pest and negligence in plant protection
measures
• Improper cultivation practices
• Imbalanced nutrient management and other
practices like mono cropping often result in low
productivity
• Unpredictable climatic aberrations
• Delay of Payment by mill owners to farmers (nearly
One year)

4. Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative(SSI):
Approach and activities
• To improve the livelihoods of smallholder
sugarcane farmers by enhancing
productivity of land and minimizing
usage of water and reducing footprint of
sugarcane cultivation.”

5. Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative(SSI):
‘More (sugarcane) With Less (inputs and water)’
A new paradigm in Sugarcane: SRI
showed a way- WWF-ICRISAT
It is an innovative
agronomic set of practices
to increase the cane yields
significantly which involves
using
• less seeds
• raising of nursery
• following new planting methods
• with wider spacing
• better water management
• nutrient management

6. Basic Principles of SSI
1. Raising nursery using single
budded chips
2. Transplanting young seedlings (25-
35 days old)
3. Maintaining wider spacing (4X2 ft)
in the main field
4. Avoiding in undation of water and
providing sufficient moisture
5. Encouraging organic method of
nutrient and plant protection
measures
6. Practicing intercropping with
effective utilization of land

7. 2-3 Budded sets & Bud chip
• 2-3 budded sets are
normally used for
propagation
• In SSI, single budded chips
from 7-9 months old
healthy canes used

8. Young seedling from Nursery
• Buds are planted in
trays
• Coco-pith (coconut coir
waste) used for raising
the settlings
• Transplanting of young
(25-35 days old)
seedlings

9. Water management
• Emphasis on sufficient moisture, rather than
inundating the field with water.
• About 40% of water is saved in this method
by following measures like raising of nursery,
following furrow / alternate furrow
irrigation, optimum application of water by
reducing quantity of water

10. Organic Methods
of Cultivation
• In SSI, inorganic practices like
application of chemical
fertilizers and pesticides are
discouraged.
• Farmers are encouraged to
practice organic method of
cultivation like incorporation
of organic manures,
application of bio-fertilizers
and use of bio-control
measures .
• Encourages better and timely
cultural practices like earthing
up, propping and detrashing,.

11. Sustainable Sugarcane
Initiative (SSI)…
…an experience so far
at NIRMAN

12. 2009-13: SSI in Odisha with Agsri
Type of Farmers covered during Intervention
Farmer
Category
Medium
farmers
Small
farmers
Marginal
Farmers
Landless
Farmers
Share
croppers
% of Farmers
in 2012
4 8 63 25 58
% of Farmers
in 2013
2 31 57 10 55
Horizontal expansion of SSI
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
District 1 3 3 5 5
Block 1 5 10 16 20
Panchay
at
2 6 25 43 48
Village 7 17 40 81 89
Farmers 20 56 365 610 705
Acre(s) 4 29.73 205 350 425

13. SSI in 2012…
Liaison office
Regd. office
SSI district
5 Districts
20 Blocks
48 Panchayats
89 Villages
705 Farmers
425 Acres

14. We have brought changes adaptive to local resources…
Used raw coco-pith with farm yard manure and/or vermicompost for seedling
preparation
Material/Particulars Cost
Processed Coco-pith
(Rs 14/kg for 1 Qntl/Acre)
Rs
1400/-
Raw Coco-pith + Vermicompost
( 80 Kg + 20 Kg )
Rs 260/-
Raw Coco-pith + FYM
(80 Kg + 20 Kg)
Rs 210/-
Raw Coco-pith + FYM +
Vermicompost
(70 Kg + 20 Kg+ 10 Kg)
Rs 240/-
Vermi-compost well and Coco-pith
Coco-pith sieve net

15. • Adopt integrated nutrition management as opposed to pure chemical method
of cultivation
– Seed treated with a composite solution of cow urine and lime
– Nutrient supplied vermicompost, jeevamrut, along with relative 60%
reduced quantity of chemical fertilizer
– Chemical Input Management costs Rs 2500/- whereas our INM approach
costed only Rs 1200/-
……. Contd.
Bud treatment – Cow urine, lime
and water solution
Drying the Bud chips

16. …Contd
• Experimented with spacing from standard 5ft to varied space of 4ft, 3ft and 2ft
as well.
Spacing No. of tillers Length of
internodes
Height Girth (in Cm) Weight
B M T
4 ft 08 10 cm 373 cm 7.5 7.1 6.3 2.1 kg
3 ft 08 7.5 cm 357 cm 7.2 6.0 5.2 1.95 kg
2 ft 06 5.5 cm 330 cm 6.7 6.0 4.9 1.7 kg

17. benefits experienced...
Particulars Conventional SSI
Seed 76,800 nodes
Rs 14400/-
5,600-6,500 buds
Rs 1300/-
Water 24 hrs/day for 4 days: 8
times in a crop cycle
8 hrs/day for 3 days: 4
times in a crop cycle
Labour (including
irrigation)
204 person-days in a
crop cycle
136 person-days in a crop
cycle
Per Acre Cost Rs 59,200/- Rs 33,200/-
Intercropping Not possible Possible
(3 month duration crop)
Yield -Ton/Acre 38-40 50-52
Net Income –
Rs./ Acre
19500 53400

18. Intercrops in SSI
Field
• Vegetables for
household
consumption and
some hard cash

19. • The group of 13 members has taken Sugarcane cultivation (IGP) in
traditional method investing around Rs 86,350/- for 3.5 acres inclusive
of costs like land lease (Rs 42,000) cost, seed, irrigation, fertiliser, labour
(excluding self labour of 789 person-days)
At the same time 9 out of 13 members has taken the initiative for SSI in
78 decimil and invested Rs 14,420/- inclusive similar costs like (Rs
9000/- for land lease), labour (excluding self labour of 63 person-days)
Estimating for 25 decimal cost investment they spent 3 times more
on traditional approach along with 3 times more time investment.
•The average production they harvested from traditional fields is 32
ton/acre. While from SSI fields it was more than 46 ton/acre.
•The bonus they gained from SSI through intercropping has been
estimated to Rs 16400/- which includes okra, cowpea, cucumber and
jute
and a success story…

20. 13 April 2010
SSI MANUAL RELEASE in Oriya

21. Initiatives taken to popularize SSI
Experience sharing of Famers at SSI
Workshop in Bhubaneswar SSI Training in Nayagarh Dist

22. Inspiration for other farmers

23. Type of Land, Cane Variety & Relative Productivity
Cane Variety
CO-6907
86-V-96
83-R-23
1053
Raghunath
Nilamadhab
Biswanath
Charchika
Cane Productivity Vs Type of Land
Land Type Medium Upland
Cane Yield
(T/Ac)
60 54

24. The Strategic Interventions…
• Engagement with state, dist. Officials
and policy makers
• Govt. included 2000 acre in Phailin
response
• Govt included SSI in RKVY
• Farmer’s guidebook on SSI is being
used as resource book for farmers
• Creating local CRP
Video documentation
Providing support to Dept. of
Agriculture, Nayagarh for
20010-11 & 2011-12 and under
RKVY-Sugarcane Devp. Prog.
and the same to Bargarh in
2012.
Nursery raising
Irrigation to SSI field

25. Farmer’s Innovative way in earthling up
Rs. 32000 expenses in traditional sugarcane
whereas Rs. 2000 in SSI farming per acre

26. Issues & Concern
• Factory owners are not paying in time which
discourages farmers
• Govt. is yet to take it up in massive scale
• Govt. officials are more concerned on procurement
of materials like tray, fertiliser rather on SSI
• Govt. focus on chemical fertilizer and pesticides
irrespective of requirement
• Disconnection among Capacity building and SSI
promotion
• No assured support from resource agency for SSI
from 2013

27. Learning:
• Simple change to SSI Practice can save huge
loss of cane in planting as seeds, conserve
water and bring economic gain to farmers
• 38000 ha. of sugarcane cultivation in Odisha:
Farmers can gain only from seed saving
around 95 cores of rupees
• Marginal, small & Sharecroppers farmers can
go for sugarcane cultivation
• Shift in Young farmer’s migration to SSI
• CRP process of SSI extension works well

28. Photo Gallery
Bud Chipping
Transplantation in progress
Raising seedling as IGP
Preparing organic manure
Seed Treatment

29. Photo Gallery
promoting SSI
SSI Training camp
Interaction at field
Experience sharing workshop

30. Ear thing Up with bullock
Intercrop-ladies finger
Photo Gallery
FFS on SSI