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This Farmer Grew 100 Tonnes of 20-Foot Tall Sugarcane in One Acre! Here’s How!
by Manabi Katoch December 13, 2017, 5:37 pm
https://www.thebetterindia.com/124175/suresh-kabade-100-tonnes-sugarcane-in-one-acre/

Appaso Kabade, a farmer from Karandwadi village in the Sangli district of Maharashtra, owned 30 acres
of ancestral land. As a local sugar mill was giving a reasonable price for sugarcane, he started growing
the crop. He was able to grow about 25 to 30 tonnes of sugarcane per acre, but his dream was to reach
up to 100 tonnes from the land, but it remained unfulfilled.

Years later his son, Suresh Kabade has fulfilled his dream by growing 100 tonnes of sugarcane
in just one acre. Each of these sugarcanes is more than 20 ft. long and weighs almost 4 Kg
each.
Suresh Kabade (centre) with 20 ft. long sugarcane

Suresh took to farming at an early age and


realised that he did not want to study after
Class 9.
“My siblings are well educated, so
everyone was very disappointed with me
when I left studies. But they also
understood that farming is my passion and
I wanted to fulfil my father’s dream of
getting 100 tonnes sugarcane at least
once,” says Suresh while talking to The
Better India from his farm.

Suresh started experimenting with various techniques of planting sugarcane on his farm. As luck would
have it, the local Rajaram Bapu Sugar Factory invited Prof. Aabasaheb Salunkhe from Vasant Dada
Sugar Institute, Pune to train the farmers for free.

“It was Aabasaheb who visited our farms and


resolved our problems. He also made us
understand the contents of the fertilisers used to
grow sugarcane and the optimum utilisation of it.
Before this, we did not even know what we were
putting into our crops. No one knew how much
nitrogen is there in NPK and how much potash in
DPA,” informs Suresh.

After following Aabasaheb’s suggestions, Suresh


was able to increase his yield by more than 70%,
which inspired him to conduct more experiments
Suresh Kabade

With every year, the yield and the size and


weight of the sugarcane kept increasing, and this
year Suresh has harvested 100 tonnes per acre
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from his first crop and 120 tonnes from the second crop. The size of each sugarcane this year exceeded
20 feet. Each one weighed more than 4 kg.

Here are the changes that Suresh made in his farming method —
1) Preparing the land

The first thing that matters most is the soil where the crop will be grown. Suresh’s journey to achieve the
best quality sugarcane begins in March when he plants a green manure called Sesbania, which is also
known as also known as Dhaincha. Once the plants are almost ready to start flowering, they are crushed
with the help of a power tiller or a tractor and mixed within the soil. A layer of mud is put upon this, and
a bed to plant sugarcane is prepared.

According to Suresh, Dhaincha is a rich source of carbon, and its roots contain essential nitrogen which
provides the required nutrition to the soil.

2) The ideal bed for sugarcane plantation

Once the land is ready, deep drains that are about 10 inches to 1 feet, are dug at a distance of almost 5 to
6 feet from each other. It is essential to put the fertilisers on the side of the drain where sunrays fall
directly.
“In the traditional method of planting sugarcane, we would keep the distance between two drains up to 2
.5 feet, but I realised that keeping a gap of 5 to 6 feet gives them required space to grow,” says Suresh.
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3) The seeds of success

For a good crop it is very important to select the right seeds. Suresh suggests that farmers take up one
eye seeds of sugarcane of best quality. He then recommends that they wash the seeds with a mixture of
20% chloro in one litre of water, then two gm of bavistin in one-litre of water and finally 5-10 millilitre
of germinator in one-litre water. These seeds are then planted in the drains by making a quench in the
drains of about 3 inch deep at a distance of 2.5 feet each.

4) Use fertilisers but in optimum amount

Suresh informed us that plants need fertilisers, but one has to take care of the quality and the right way
of using them. He digs a small quench near the space where the seed has to be planted and puts the
essential fertilisers right at the roots of the plant and covers it carefully with the soil. This technique
ensures the plant gets all the nutrients from its roots. “It takes at least five farm labourers to do this job,
but one can see the positive results,” he explains.

Suresh also makes organic manure at his own farm and says that he strains the cow dung first before
using it in the manure.
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5) Watering plants the right way


The method of flood irrigation is harmful
to the plants as well and leads to water
wastage. Suresh waters the plants as when
required. At times, he has remained awake
all night, just to ensure that the plants are
watered at the right time.
Suresh worked very hard for six years to
ensure that his father’s dream came true.
He tells us how he would double up the
fertilisers, try using power tillers instead of
bulls, make his own seed plot and stay
awake night after night to fulfil his father’s dream.

While sharing the entire process of the plantation to


harvesting of the sugarcane, Suresh tells us how it is a
result of continuous efforts wherein he keeps
nourishing the plants right from the day of planting.

On the 30th day of the plantation when the sprouts are


visible, he puts a mixture of various nutrients at the root of
each plant by digging a small quench around it and then
covers them too.
This process has to be repeated on day 65, day 85, day 105,
day 135, day 165 and finally on day 225. One also has to
keep removing the dead leaves from the plants as and when
required.
Suresh makes a separate drain beside the plantation drain to
put these dead leaves which work as green manure. Suresh
has also set up an example among the farmers to make the
environment pollution free.

He does not burn the farm residue which comes up to


30 to 40 tonnes, and instead, crushes them with the
help of shredder and tractor or a power tiller
and then covers the farm with a layer of soil
that was taken out during the formation of
the drains. Suresh claims that this method has
also helped to retain the soil nutrient as the
residue converts into green manure.

Suresh has created a sugarcane seed-plot of the


best quality seeds, which are in demand in
Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. He is also admin
of the Facebook page, ‘Maharashtra Uus Udpadak
Samuh‘(Sugarcane Growers of Maharashtra)
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which is an initiative of his social


foundation ‘Hoye Aamhi Shetkari’
(Yes! we are farmers). The group
which was started just six months
ago has 1lakh and 15 thousand
members currently. He also runs a
WhatsApp group and a YouTube
channel named ‘Hoye Amhi
Shetkari’ where he gives live
lessons to the farmers.

Currently, Suresh grows sugarcane,


bananas, and turmeric on his farm
land.
He made a profit of around ₹40 lakh from his first crop this year and is hoping to excel this
record in the second crop which has given him an average of 120 tonnes/acre.

Suresh who has won many awards including the best sugarcane farmer award at the recent Krishithon at
Nasik, says that this was not possible without the support of the farm labourers who work at his farm
and the constant support of his wife, Padmaja.

Appasso is a proud father today when he sees farmers coming from all across the country to
get trained from Suresh.

“I regret that I could not finish my education, but now when


collectors and agri-scientists come to me to learn my
technique, it makes me feel happy. However, I don’t deny
that education is important, and have always encouraged my
children to study,” says Suresh.
Suresh’s elder son has completed his MBBS degree, and his
younger son is also an aspiring doctor.
When we ask him if his sons are interested in farming, he
laughs and says, “Of course! They love to farm just like me,
but they will be educated Sunday farmers!”

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