Sugarcane‐based integrated farming system: A pathway to doubling farmers' income and ensuring sustainability in subtropical India

Abstract A field experiment was conducted at ICAR‐Indian Sugarcane Research Institute, Lucknow, UP, India located at 26.50° N and 80.53° East at 123 metres above mean sea level. Considering the farming situations, social acceptability, growers' demand and supply, market requirements, compatibility and profitability in a sugarcane‐based system, four modules of integrated farming systems (IFS) were designed and laid out in 1 ha area from 2019–2020 to 2022–2023. These systems were evaluated with autumn (autumn sugarcane‐based integrated farming system—ASBIFS) and spring seasons (spring sugarcane‐based integrated farming system—SSBIFS). On the basis of compatibility and efficiency of various agri‐enterprises with the sugarcane production system, it could be concluded that the inclusion of vegetables, backyard poultry, pisciculture, vermicomposting, apiculture, mushroom, and dairy unit (consisting of two cows) was found compatible and remunerative in increasing system productivity. Autumn sugarcane‐based IFS involving all these enterprises recorded the highest mean system productivity (123.6 t/ha/year), gross returns (US$ 4901/ha/year), and net returns (US$ 2509/ha/year). However, spring sugarcane‐based IFS integrating all these enterprises recorded the highest system production efficiency (348.8 kg/day), marginal returns (US$ 46 × 10 −3 /day), and relative economic efficiency (146.7%). Thus, autumn‐based IFS modules were found more profitable compared to spring sugarcane‐based IFS. The higher relative economic efficiency with spring sugarcane‐based IFS compared to autumn sugarcane‐based IFS indicated that for small and marginal farmers, the spring sugarcane‐based IFS was more profitable compared to autumn sugarcane‐based IFS. Thus, it could be concluded that the integration of vegetables, including horticultural crops throughout the year, backyard poultry, fisheries, apiculture, mushroom, and dairy unit with sugarcane planting resulted in the highest net returns and B:C ratio and could be adopted by the sugarcane growers for higher profitability and sustainability of the farming system.