ABSTRACT
The development of sugarcane cultivation Louis Jean Claude Autrey, International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT), Mauritius; Salem Saumtally and Asha Dookun-Saumtally, Mauritius Sugarcane Industry Research Institute (MSIRI), Mauritius
1 History of sugarcane
2 Sugarcane species
3 Description of the sugarcane plant
4 Sugarcane breeding
5 Agronomic practices in sugarcane
6 Sugarcane milling
7 Sugarcane cultivated today
8 Future trends and conclusion
9 Where to look for further information
10 Acknowledgement
11 References
The movement of the sugarcane from its point of origin is not clear, but Saccharum officinarum is likely to have originated in New Guinea about 8000 yrs ago and from there spread eastwards to the Solomon Islands and to New Caledonia. It is also thought that some 2000 yrs ago, it moved westwards to Indonesia, The Philippines and then northern India. According to Galloway (1989), Sanskrit literature makes reference to the cultivation of sugarcane in India from the 1500-500 BC, with the Sanskrit word for sugar – Śarkarã – not appearing in the Sanskrit manual before 324-300 BC. In China, sugarcane arrived as early as in 206 BC and was grown in Tonkin, Annam (Vietnam) by AD 220. In AD 647, a Chinese mission was sent to Bihar, India, to learn about sugar manufacture, and thereafter field plantations were established in China (Galloway, 1989).
