Some Factors to Be Considered in the Possible Diversification of Crop Husbandry in the Cane Belt

Many factors have, of course, contributed to the expansion of this industry to its present day proportions but one of the most significant is undoubtedly the adaptability of the crop to such a wide range of growing conditions and also the simplicity of its culture. Sugarcane is truly a "pioneering" crop for its expansion has been not so much at the expense of other crops but rather by the opening up of virgin land from indigenous bush and swamp. It is true to say, therefore, that in general sugarcane has excluded and not replaced other crops in the coastal belt. No other single crop has achieved anything like the status of sugarcane during the development of the region with the possible exception of tea, which in 1905 occupied some 4,500 acres at a time when sugarcane production was depressed and the acreage reduced to something like 30,000 acres.