Sugarcane

Remits

• Optimize cropping systems, to reduce the impact of the supply chain on the environment
• Promote the ecological functions of sugarcane: terroir management, improved landscapes, carbon balance
• Study the possibilities of growing sugarcane in constrained environments
• Produce better, more cleanly, through:
  - revised crop management sequences specific to local products, terroirs and social and economic conditions
  - integrated pest and weed management by means of an agro-ecological approach
  - the dissemination of safe varieties (thanks to the Visacane quarantine facility) and extended epidemiosurveillance
  - using sugar industry by-products
  - using information gathering and management techniques for decision support systems
• Breed mixed varieties to produce both sugar and worthwhile bioproducts.

Appraisals

CIRAD assigns experts to production sites and organizes one-off support, assistance or advisory missions. It also has networks of research laboratories and greenhouses in which it can receive project partners.

• Studies, definition and establishment of trials, varietal and agronomic assessments, economic analyses, statistical analyses, foresight exercises, disease surveys-diagnoses, technical support
• Technical assistance to the main sugar plants and the various institutions linked with the sugarcane supply chain
• Foresight exercises on the sugarcane supply chain, micro- and macro-economic analyses in various contexts
• Environmental assessments of agricultural practices and life cycle assessments (LCAs)
• Laboratory analyses of samples (soil, leaves, roots, etc) and recommendations
• Visacane quarantine service in Montpellier: disease diagnosis and disease eradication
• Decision support using simulation (Mosicas): analysis of potential, production and quality forecasts, production and quality diagnoses, impacts and optimization of cropping systems (irrigation, cutting cycles and dates, varieties, etc), impacts of climate change and adaptation
• Research and development project design and management
• Support of national and international policies on training and information.

Expertise

Targeted genetic improvement

• Varietal identification, pollen fertility characterization
• Collection of varieties from crops in situ (CRBT-Guadeloupe) and by apex cryopreservation
• Relational database on the traits of parents and their progenies
• Varietal creation, breeding and genomics
• Security of varietal exchanges.

Agroecological management

• Integrated management of insects, weeds and diseases
• Design of crop management sequences tailored to new products (eg high-fibre sugarcane for electricity generation)
• Use of service plants to manage fertility and pests and diseases
• Mechanization of production, rural development and environment
• Use of fertilizing residuals (FRs) to totally or partly replace inorganic fertilizers
• Optimized database for trials relating to the field of agro-ecology (ECOFI).

Modelling

• Spatialized management of production, satellite image processing, geographical information systems
• Factory supply management and systems for payments to sugarcane producers (PEMPA decision support tool)
• Mosicas: production and quality simulation tool based on the environment, the variety and various cropping system factors (cycles and ages, irrigation, variety, etc.)
• Forecasting the effects of climate change
• Tool for assessing the economic and environmental cost-effectiveness of an energy sugarcane supply chain (REEFCANE).

Products and services

With Visacane: disease-free sugarcane varieties

Visacane is the CIRAD sugarcane quarantine service. It provides disease-free sugarcane varieties worldwide, for the sugar industry and varietal creation centres. It is located at CIRAD in Montpellier, outside the sugarcane cultivation zone, and is part of a joint research unit on plant pathology.

VisaCane website

Other products and services

Catalogue