REVIEW ARTICLE Sugarcane and Sugar Industry in Bangladesh: An Overview M. S. Rahman 1 • S. Khatun 1 • M. K. Rahman 1 Received: 4 October 2016 / Accepted: 14 October 2016 Ó Society for Sugar Research & Promotion 2016 Abstract The current production of sugar in Bangladesh is only about 5% of total demand. About 20% demand is fulfilled by jaggery production mainly from sugarcane and remaining 75% of total requirement is fulfilled by impor- tation. The main causes of lower sugar production of the industry include less supply of sugarcane in the factories and very poor sugar recovery. The area under cane culti- vation is drastically reduced due to pressure of cereals and other short-duration crops which cause lower amount of sugarcane production. The yield of cane per unit area is lower than the other sugar producing countries. The gov- ernment of Bangladesh is emphasizing the attainment of self-sufficiency in sugar and jaggery production by boost- ing up the sugarcane production in the country. Moreover, the government has taken some steps to introduce tropical sugar beet for sugar production. Considering this aspect, Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute (BSRI) has developed and recommended a good numbers of sugarcane production technologies from planting to harvesting. The technologies include releasing of a large number of high yielding, high sugar content, diseases and pest resistant sugarcane varieties, intercropping with sugarcane, spaced transplanting technology, ratoon management technology, diseases and pest management technology, updating the fertilizer dose for 12 agro-ecological zones and develop- ment of some important implements for sugarcane culti- vation. BSRI released some varieties which are suitable for jaggery production and some are abiotic stress (drought, water-logging, saline and flood) tolerant. Moreover, BSRI has been doing research on tropical sugar beet to introduce its cultivation in the country. Introduction of sugarcane in the river basins, plain land of hilly areas and the saline areas can considerably increase the sugarcane production. Furthermore, if the BSRI-recommended technologies are followed properly, the sugarcane production and thereby sugar and jaggery production will be certainly increased. Keywords Bangladesh Á Sugarcane Á Sugar industry Á Jaggery Á Sugar beet Á Saline area Introduction Sugarcane is the important cash-cum industrial crop and only the source of white sugar in Bangladesh. It occupies about 1.52% of the country’s total cultivable land in every year (Anonymous 2016a, b). Among the cash crops, sug- arcane ranks second, and among major field crops, it ranks third in the country. Its cultivation is concentrated mainly in the low-rainfall belts of the northwestern parts of Ban- gladesh. Less productive river basins (Char lands) and plain lands of hilly areas are also being increasingly brought under sugarcane cultivation. It is also traditionally grown in the high lands of the central parts of Bangladesh. The sugar industry of Bangladesh consists of 15 sugar mills under Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC). Most of the sugar mills are located in the northwestern zones of the country where concentration of growing sugarcane is high. Currently, on an average, sug- arcane is grown in 0.13 million ha of land of which about 50% is located in the sugar mills zones, where sugarcane is mostly used for sugar production and remaining 50% is situated in the non-mill zone, where sugarcane is mostly used for jaggery production and chewing purposes. & M. S. Rahman msrahmanbsri@gmail.com 1 Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute, Ishurdi, Pabna 6620, Bangladesh 123 Sugar Tech DOI 10.1007/s12355-016-0489-z