PDR van Heerden1,2, N Hoffman1, P Botha1 and BJ O’Neill3
1South African Sugarcane Research Institute, Private Bag X02, Mount Edgecombe, South Africa; riekert.vanheerden@sugar.org.za
2Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
3O’Neill Sugar CC, Seafield Farm, Richmond, South Africa
The wide diversity in growing conditions and sugarcane varieties complicates cane-quality management in South Africa. Due to the importance of high cane quality towards the economic sustainability of sugarcane farming, the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) invests in scientific and participatory research that aims to enable and promote judicious cane quality management by farmers. This paper elaborates on these scientific and participatory research strategies and to provide evidence of their value. Scientific research strategies focus on a) the field trial evaluation of chemical ripener treatments in different varieties and environments; b) the development of decision support tools that allow the on-farm diagnosis of cane quality management requirements, and c) proof-of-concept studies into the assessment of cane quality from drone-captured multispectral imagery. Evidence of value derived from these scientific research strategies include the registration of a novel and superior chemical ripener combination treatment, and the commercial implementation of chemical ripening decision support provided by a mobile application (PurEst®), together with refractometers, in some mill supply areas. Integrated with these scientific research strategies is participatory research where cane-quality management recommendations are evaluated and refined together with farmers for practical implementation in commercial settings. An example showcases where long-term participatory research strengthened farmer confidence in chemical ripening and led to the implementation of a judicious ripening approach that ultimately resulted in the delivery of higher quality cane to the mill (1.3–3.1 relative value percent units higher than the corresponding mill averages over a 5-year period). At the regional level, the knowledge gained from this participatory research was successfully used to promote chemical ripening as evidenced by increased grower adoption (seven-fold increase in the cane production area ripened over 3 years).