Sethiathope M.R.Krishnamurthy Cooperative sugar mill sets target

CUDDALORE:

           The M.R.Krishnamurthy Cooperative Sugar Mill at Sethiathope has set itself a target of achieving its maximum installed crushing capacity of 4.3 lakh tonnes of sugar cane during 2011-2012.

           This will be higher by 1.6 lakh tonnes than the targeted crushing of 2.7 lakh tonnes of sugar cane for the financial year 2010-2011, according to Asia Mariam, Special Officer of the cooperative sugar mill. In a statement released here, Ms Mariam said that even the 2.7-lakh-tonne target was higher than the previous financial year's target of 2.1 lakh tonnes.

        The crushing performance was being increased to meet the bagasse requirements of the proposed 15-MW co-generation plant to be set up by the sugar mill. The Special Officer further noted that the mill could realise its target only through expanding the area under sugar cane and encouraging farmers to raise cane varieties with high recovery rate or high sugar potential. She also said that as of now, the cooperative sugar mill had under its purview a registered sugar cane area spreading over 11,000 acres. However, for attaining the full crushing potential of the sugar mill, the management had called upon farmers to increase the area under sugar cane.

         Moreover, she pointed out that the COC -86032 sugar cane variety had proved to be rich in sugar content but it was grown in a comparatively smaller area. Therefore, Ms Mariam called upon the farmers to take to high yielding varieties such as COC-86032, COC-24 and S.I-7 . She promised all help to the farmers in getting the required quantity of seed sugar cane. Ms Mariam also thanked the farmers and transporters for having ensured uninterrupted supply of sugar cane to the mill.

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Call to address bio-safety concern of genetically modified crops

CUDDALORE:

               Biotechnology cannot be a panacea for the problems confronting the agricultural sector. At the most it can be part of a solution, but, thus far it is being pushed in the wrong direction, said B.Vasantraj David, a leading pesticides scientist.

               Biotechnology is being touted as the successor to chemicals as a miracle technology, a quick fix, rather than an integral part of a shift to sustainable agriculture. Mr. David was delivering a special address at the national workshop on “Paradigm shifts in research on crop resistance to pests” organised by the Department of Entomology of the Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, at Chidambaram on Thursday.

                  He said that the transgenic crops, however, had not found ready acceptance among the people at large. Biosafety concerns were the major reasons for non-adoption of transgenic crops in most countries. Mr. David, former national president of the Pesticides Association of India who has authored several books on pesticides, said that these concerns included transgene movement to other varieties and wild relatives leading to possible development of super weeds, erosion of genetic diversity and ecological disturbances. Similarly, there was widespread apprehension that transgene products could be toxic or allergenic to humans and animals. Also transgenic crops—pest resistant varieties—could have adverse impact on non-target organisms.

                Emergence of more virulent forms of pests and pathogens was also an important concern. He pointed out that already some insect populations, e.g., diamondback moth, had become resistant to the Bt toxin after prolonged exposure. It meant that Bt would no longer be effective in controlling a particular pest population. Therefore, Mr. David who is currently president of the Sun Agro Biosystems Ltd, Chennai, said the traits to be altered and strategies to be adopted should be carefully considered to minimise the biosafety risks. He emphatically said that the transgenic crops should not be viewed in isolation, but, should form part of the overall national agricultural policy. It was imperative to prioritise the crops and traits to be engineered and strategies to be adopted, Mr. David added. P. Narayanasamy, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, laid stress on increased productivity and reduced pesticide usage. The brinjal variety “Annamalai” released by the faculty was extensively grown in the State. He called upon the farm scientists to address the issues arising out of the proposed commercial usage of Bt. brinjal. J.S.Bentur, Principal Scientist from the Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad, D. Sundara Raju of the National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Bangalore, K.S. Mohan of the Monsanto Research Centre, Bangalore, B. Singaravelu of the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, and others participated.

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