Science and Technology Boosts China’s Sugar Industry, Supporting Self-Sufficiency Rate Above 70%

Sugar is an important agricultural product and strategic material in China. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the National Sugar Crop Industry Technology System has integrated the strength of 13 scientific research institutions across 11 provinces and regions, including Guangxi, Yunnan, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, to carry out scientific and technological research and industrial technology studies in both sugarcane and sugar beet fields, effectively promoting the healthy development of the sugar crop industry and supporting China’s sugar self-sufficiency rate to exceed 70% through technological support.

Over the past five years, aiming at the backwardness of sugarcane variety improvement in China, the system, mainly relying on scientific research institutions in major producing areas of Guangxi and Yunnan, has successfully bred new varieties such as “Guitang 42”, “Guiliu 05136”, “Yunzhe 081609”, “Guitang 44” and “Yunzhe 0551”, with a planting area of 16.216 million mu, achieving a new generation of variety improvement in China.

In the sugar beet seed industry, addressing the problem that sugar beet seeds mainly relied on imports, the National Sugar Crop Industry Technology System has developed a set of relatively mature pelletized seed processing technology, established sugar beet seed pelletizing processing workshops, and achieved a demonstration area of 50,000 mu, realizing a breakthrough from scratch in domestic sugar beet seed processing.

In terms of sugar crop mechanization, to tackle the slow promotion of sugarcane mechanization, the system has developed mechanized harvesting modes such as combined harvesting and step-by-step harvesting. Combined harvesting has been vigorously promoted in flat sugarcane areas, while step-by-step harvesting and small-and-medium-sized mechanization have been focused on in hilly sugarcane areas, achieving a 78% mechanized harvesting rate in the sugarcane area of Longchuan Sugar Factory in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan.

For sugar beets, the system has integrated high-yield technology modes including high-quality varieties, high-density cultivation, navigation sowing, dry sowing and wet emergence, and integrated water and fertilizer management, which has been promoted over 700,000 mu, setting a high-yield record of 8.75 tons per mu.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the National Sugar Crop Industry Technology System will focus on major scientific and technological issues in China’s sugar crop industry, focus on key tasks such as the breeding of new mechanization-suitable sugar crop varieties, seed breeding and processing, and full-process mechanization. It will establish a sugar crop scientific research paradigm led by chief and deputy chief scientists, with the participation of position scientists and comprehensive experimental stations, to make greater contributions to the construction of China’s modern sugar crop bases.