Speedlings sweeten seed cane propagation efficiency

Conventional stick seed cane, while long relied on as the source of plant material for commercial sugar cane crops, comes with unavoidable inefficiencies. Experts in seed cane propagation explain how the ‘speedlings’ concept provides an alternative, cost-efficient option that has already proven itself in South Africa’s deman ing sugar cane farming industry.

- Lloyd Phillips

Situated barely a stone’s throw from the waves of the warm Indian Ocean, Illovo Sugar’s Sezela Sugar Mill on KwaZulu- Natal’s South Coast crushes about two million tons of sugar cane annually for processing into sugar and other products.

The cane is supplied by growers at all scales of production within the mill’s supply area. As with all of South Africa’s sugar cane farmers, each Sezela mill supplier is paid on the recoverable value (RV) percentage of the cane he or she delivers to the mill.

Writing in the Shukela Plus industry magazine, Dr. Muhammad Kadwa, industrial affairs manager of the South African Cane Growers’ Association (SA Canegrowers), explains that the RV payment system incentivises growers to maximise their crops’ sucrose content and minimise its non-sucrose and fibre content to produce better-quality cane.

A crucial aspect of the best management practices required by South Africa’s sugar cane farmers to maximize the RV percentages of their crop is having enough seed cane of the best possible quality. This cane is planted to replace commercial ratoon sugar cane fields whose biomass and RV yields are no longer cost-effective.

According to the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI), planting good quality seed cane propagated from cane varieties developed by SASRI for the country’s various production environments is critical for profitable sugar cane production.