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The Arabs introduced the cultivation of sugar cane to Egypt in 641 AD. The sugar industry began in 710 AD and Egyptians were the first to establish the refined sugar industry, in the ninth and tenth centuries, when the area under cane cultivation reached 75,000 feddans and sugar was exported to Europe.
Today, the three main sugar crops - sugar cane, sugar beet and sweet sorghum - are cultivated in Egypt.
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Sugar cane
is the main source for refined sugar and the sole source for the molasses industry in
Egypt.
In addition to consuming it fresh or crushing it into juice, the by-products from its refining are used as row materials in the plywood and paper pulp industries.
Molasses from sugar cane is used in the production of ethyl alcohol, active yeast, citric and acetic acid, and in dextrane, a replacement for plasma
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Sugar
beet
is a relatively new crop
in Egypt. Due to limited water resources and a scarcity of land
environmentally suitable for sugar cane cultivation, combined with an increasing demand for refined sugar, Egypt began large scale cultivation of sugar beet in 1982. By-products
from the refining process are used to produce nontraditional animal feeds.
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Sweet Sorghum
is
currently
undergoing evaluation as a commercial crop. Scientists have successfully
extracted syrup, known as "golden syrup" because of its appearance, from
sorghum. golden syrup is used as a food, in bakeries and factories , and by
the tobacco industry. By- products of sweet sorghum include fiber, used by
the paper industry, and bagasse, used as fuel.
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As a result of the continuous efforts of the sugar Crops research institute (SCRI)
to improve sugar crops varieties and to transfer advanced agricultural
technologies to the farmer through extension programs, total sugar
production in Egypt has increased 45.6%, from 797,834 tons in 1982, to
1,015,751 tons in 1993.
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The Sugar Crops Research Institute began in 1913 as the sugar cane section in the Department of Agriculture. In 1971, it became the sugar crops division within the field crops research Institute, and then in 1983, the sugar crops research
institute joined with the other research institutes in the agricultural Research center (ARC).
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Research work with sugar cane began at Mallawy and Mattana farms in Upper Egypt, with yield testing of some imported varieties of sugar cane.
Later, research was gradually expanded to sugar cane, sugar beet and sweet sorghum breeding - especially after successfully inducing the flowering of sugar crops under local conditions- and then to improving cultural practices, plant protection and physiological and biochemical studies. The institute conducts research in various aspects of sugar crops and is actively involved in transferring knowledge to farmers and investors, for the benefit of all Egyptians. SCRI, in cooperation with national and international organizations, is striving to close the gap between sugar productions and consumption in Egypt.
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Develop new and improved varieties of sugar cane, sugar beet and sweet sorghum that ripen early, resist disease, tolerate frost and drought, produce high yields and possess high sugar contents.
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Conduct physiological studies of various external and internal factors, including:
flowering of sugar cane and improved seed seting, flowering of sugar beet to enable breeders to develop national varieties and thus produce seeds locally, and testing sugar crops varieties for drought resistance, frost tolerance and salinity.
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Define suitable agronomic practices which increase sugar production per unit area, water, and time.
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Introduce, adopt and transfer new technologies to farmers in traditional crop valleys and in the newly reclaimed areas by means of applied research.
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Adopt better means for increasing sugar crops intensification.
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Conduct epidemiological studies of diseases, particularly smut and mosaic of sugar cane, and implement means for their control.
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Control stalk borers by developing an integrated approach, combining resistant varieties with agricultural, chemical, biological and biochemical means.
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Implement artificial/natural screening and testing of varieties for resistance and/or tolerance to different diseases and physiological stress conditions.
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Minipulate genetic material through biotechnology and genetic engineering to produce better yielding varieties.
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Supervise projects of the Council for Sugar Crops, whose aim is to increase the productivity of sugar cane and sugar beet in Egypt.
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Provide farmers with the appropriate technologies and recommendations to increase their crop production.
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Train the technical staff of Egyptian institutions and those from other developing countries in sugar crops production and technology.
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Overall, the Sugar Crops Research Institute helped accomplish the following:
* Increased productivity of sugarcane yield per feddan from 34.13 tons/fed in 1981 to 50.95 tons/fed in 2007, which contributed to the increase in sugar yield from 3.6 to 4.4 tons/fed, respectively.
* Increased productivity of sugar beet yield per feddan from 12.61 tons in 1982 to 21.17 tons in 2007, which contributed to the increase in sugar yield from 1.0 to 2.76 ton/fed, respectively.
* Releasing new sugarcane varieties as G.84-47, Phil.8013 in addition to eight promising sugarcane varieties namely G.98-24, G.98-28, G.98-87, G.99-165, G.98-88, G.99-103, G.99-160 and Mex 2001.
* Improved clones derived from the commercial variety G.T.54-9 using Tissue Culture Technique to avoid any possible deterioration in it.
* Introduction of Transplanting Technique in sugarcane plantations as a means of improving plant population of cane ratoons and/or planting the delayed plant cane after winter crops as wheat using transplants, which attain an increase in cane yield ranged 6 to 10 tons/fed.
* Participation in planning and implementation of the integrated control of sugar crops pests as borers, soft scull insect and smut disease in sugarcane and nematodes, cotton warm and Cercospora baticola in sugar beet.
* Introduction of the Improved Surface Irrigation System based on the precise land leveling using LASER Technique in both sugar cane and beet fields, which participated in saving irrigation water and raising productivity by about 25 %.
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