Successful Intercropping of Sugarcane

A five year Joint Project between SASEX and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs was initiated in 1996, aimed at improving the crop production capabilities of small scale cane growers. As part of this Project, research trials were conducted to investigate the economics and practicalities of intercropping cane with food crops. Results from the first two years of trials were presented in 1999, showing that the most suitable food crops for this purpose were maize harvested for green mealies, and cabbages. This paper discusses the findings from nine subsequent field trials conducted at five sites, ranging from the coastal plain to inland areas, which researched crop interactions in both plant and first ratoon cane. Maize, cabbage and sweet potatoes were shown to be the most suitable food crops at all sites. All intercrops resulted in a reduction in cane yield, even where the cane was harvested 24 months after planting. In the trials where other factors were not limiting, the productivity of each individual food crop plant was greater in the cane interrows than when grown as a sole crop, in particular for maize and cabbages. Thus, small scale cane growers wishing to produce additional crops for food security or income while waiting for their cane to mature, would benefit by planting such crops in plant cane interrows rather than cultivating them on a separate piece of land. Two complex trials conducted at Bruyns Hill demonstrated how the time and method of planting the intercrops can be manipulated to reduce the deleterious competitive effects of the food crops on cane yields.