Webinar on Sugarcane Sector in Post COVID-19 and Way Forward was organized at IISR

A webinar on the topic Sugarcane Sector in Post COVID-19 and Way Forward was organized at ICAR- Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow on 12th June, 2020 from 4.00 to 7.00 pm. The basic objective of the webinar was to provide common platform to researchers, industry executives, managers and government officials to discuss and analyze the distress in sugarcane sector of Sub-tropical India in COVID-19 time; and to decide future course of actions for addressing current distress and challenges.

The panelists of the webinar were Dr. S. Solomon, Ex. VC, CSAUA&T, Kanpur; Dr. A.D. Pathak, Director, IISR, Lucknow; Prof. Narendra Mohan, Director, National Sugar Institute, Kanpur; Shri Roshan Lal Tamak, Executive Director & CEO, Sugar Business, DCM Shriram; Shri V.K. Shukla, Additional Cane Commissioner, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh; Dr. A. Chandra, IISR, Lucknow and Dr. Sudhir Shukla, IISR, Lucknow. The Webinar was planned, structured and moderated by Dr. A. K. Sah, Principal Scientist, IISR. The coordinator of the webinar was Dr. S.S. Hasan, Principal Scientist, IISR. The session was joined by over 100 participants from sugar industry, research institutes and govt. cane department.

The webinar was initiated with formal introduction of the topic and eminent panelists of the session by Dr. A. K. Sah, Moderator. Dr. A.D. Pathak shared his views on emerging challenges in sugarcane Research & Development to address issues in post COVID era. Prof. Narendra Mohan elaborated and discussed in detail on the topic Reorienting technological approach for process and product diversification to mitigate corona crisis. Prof. Mohan appealed the industry executives to revisit the sugar mills during off season to decide revised standard operating procedure in the wake of CORONA crisis. Shri Roshan Lal Tamak in his presentation touched upon all the issues related to sugar industry perspectives encompassing factory operations, marketing, hygiene, farmers’ livelihood, digitalization etc. Shri V. K. Shukla presented the government initiatives taken during COVID-19 pandemic and future strategy for smooth sailing of the industry in the state. Dr. A. Chandra presented in detail all the points related to topic to initiate the discussion. Dr. Sudhir Shukla presented the issues related to cane and field management for up keep of healthy crop in present pandemic situation.

The webinar ended with concluding remarks by the Chairman.