Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute

Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute an autonomous national institute with a mandate to carry out research on sugarcane and other ancillary sugar crops all over the country, situated at Ishurdi, Pabna about 190 km Northwest of Dhaka. It had its origin in the Sugarcane Seedling Testing Station established at Dhaka in 1931. In 1951, the Sugarcane Research Station was established under the Department of Agriculture of the erstwhile Government of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In 1973, the station was transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation under the Ministry of Industry.

The station was upgraded as the Sugarcane Research Institute (SRI) and subsequently renamed as the Bangladesh Sugarcane Research and Training Institute (BSRTI). In 1989, it was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1996, the parliament passed an Act through which the Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute (BSRI) became an autonomous institute. Of the 365 persons working at present in the institute, 103 are scientists. The Director General is the head of the institution, and a Board of Governors administers the management. BSRI has three regional stations and six sub-stations. It has released 28 sugarcane varieties, which cover about 95% of the total sugarcane land of sugar mills zones and 25% of non-mill zones. The important varieties are: Isd 1/53, Isd 2/54, LJC, Isd 16, Isd 17, Isd 18, Isd 19, Isd 20, Isd 21, Isd 22, Isd 24, Isd 25, Isd 26, Isd 27, Isd 28, etc. The institute has standardized fertiliser doses and management practices for sugarcane cultivation based on agroecological zones. The institute publishes the Bangladesh Journal of Sugarcane annually. [Delwar Hossain]