Sugarcane is a long duration crop, grown in rows at a greater distance and is a source of income once a year. As a result, farmers get only one crop in a year under sole sugarcane. Adopting intercropping not only increases productivity per unit area and per unit time, but also provides insurance against natural disasters. Therefore, growing intercrops with sugarcane gives higher total productivity.
After planting sugarcane, germination, establishment and growth happens very slowly for the first 3-4 months. At this time, growing intercrops in the rows has been found to be quite suitable, this also controls weeds.
On the basis of research done at Sugarcane Research Institute, Pusa, sugarcane based intercrops found to be best have been selected and appropriate management techniques have been developed for it. In Bihar, sugarcane is mainly grown in autumn (October-November) and spring (February-March). Hence, intercropping can be done with sugarcane in both the seasons.
