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Tropical beet could 'democratise' sugar industry |
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September 2009 |
Syngenta seed company's exciting, recently-developed tropical beet may have some deep-reaching effects on the traditional cane sugar industry. It could "democratise" it by making it possible to produce sugar in much drier areas than in the past; it could also promote the setting up of bio-ethanol projects in Africa.
Tropical sugar beet can be grown in relatively dry areas as it requires
substantially less water than sugar cane. The beets are also
faster-growing, allowing farmers to grow a second crop on their land in
the same period as sugar cane crops take to mature. This increases
farmers' productivity and income.
However, the tropical beet seed is currently very expensive and it is
an annual crop which requires high energy and cost for replanting -
whereas cane lasts for about 10 years.
Tropical sugar beet delivers similar output yields to sugar cane.
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