National Symposium

The First National Seminar on Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) is an effort to initiate a dialogue on improving the productivity and quality of sugarcane production. More than 100 participants from various states of the country - representing industry, farmers, researchers and civil society - would be sharing their SSI experiences and identifying issues for further research and improvisation. SSI has been tested in various states and during the Seminar, the case studies presented by various participants will be discussed.

The focus of the Seminar is to bring cross learning and identify the required training needs of the farmers and cane development staff. The discussion at the Seminar will also help in evolving strategies for a collaborative effort in scaling up SSI.

The Seminar is expected to deliberate and come to a common understanding on

• Establishing more SSI demonstration sites in all sugarcane growing states; based on the results, setting up specific targets for each state/mill in promoting SSI
• Training and knowledge sharing and dissemination, particularly in regional languages
• Research on required tools and machines, to help in up-scaling SSI
• Research on varietal response to SSI
• Networking for creating a multidisciplinary and multi-dimensional approach to SSI and
• Policy framework to mobilise required human and financial resources for scaling up SSI, including a mechanism to certify the sugarcane production