Bihar Minister seeks TN cane institute help

Coimbatore, June 17 (UNI) Bihar Minister for Cane Development Nitish Mishra today visited the Sugarcane Breeding Institute (SBI) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to seek its support to improve the sugarcane productivity in his state.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr Mishra said Bihar, which once contributed 30 per cent of the nation's sugaracane production, was now witnessing steady decline in output.

However, the contribution had come down to less than five per cent and many sugar mills are closed.

The Minister said joint research projects between the SBI and the research and development institutes of Bihar were required to help the cane growers in the state.

He said the sugar industry in the state was on a revival mode and efforts were on to revitalise the sick units which were closed.

SBI Director N Vijayan Nair said the institute would offer training programmes for research and development personnel in Bihar to update their knowledge and skills on sugarcane improvement and management.

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