Sugar Institute: How The Weather Influences Yield

The productivity of sugarcane and sugar is strongly influenced by climatic conditions from planting to harvest.
Distribution of sugarcane throughout the world is very limited by its suitability to the climate conditions.
The different sugarcane cropping phases is influenced by various climatic conditions, moisture being the most significant for growth and elongation.
To improve sugarcane productivity, climate information related to rainfall is needed such as the beginning of the rainy season related to planting planning and the end of the rainy season or the start of the dry season related to sugarcane harvesting and transportation planning.
Sugarcane plants require optimal rainfall during the vegetative phase to stimulate rapid growth, stalk elongation and internode formation.
However, during the period of maturity dry conditions with low rainfall is ideal to improve the quality of sugarcane juice and reduce the water content in plant tissues.
While sufficient moisture is required for optimum production, excess water causes flooding and reduces soil aeration by blocking soil pores.
Measures such as cover cropping, clean drains and vetiver hedges reduces the impact of flooding.
The sugar industry relies heavily on weather information, especially on climate variability from planting to harvest, after-harvest transportation and milling processes.
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