Bakshi Ram

Bakshi Ram is a plant breeder whose sugarcane varieties have reshaped cane farming across northern India. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of science and engineering, from Haryana ^[1].

Training and leadership

Bakshi Ram was born on 1 July 1959 and took his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in plant breeding at CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar ^[2]. He went on to head both the ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore and the UP Council of Sugarcane Research in Shahjahanpur, the country’s two oldest sugarcane research bodies, both founded in 1912 ^[2].

A variety that changed the map

Using a selection method he adapted to find early-maturing canes that give both high yields and high sugar recovery, he helped release and notify 22 varieties ^[2]. By 2020–21 his varieties were grown on about 29.9 lakh hectares in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar, close to 90% of the cane area in those states ^[2].

The best known is Co 0238. It came to cover about 84% of the cane area in the five subtropical states, giving farmers roughly 19.7 tonnes more cane per hectare and about 2.4 points more sugar recovery ^[2]. The resulting jump in sugar output fed into the government’s decision to let mills turn cane juice and heavy molasses into ethanol for blending with petrol ^[2].

He has more than 435 publications and has received 48 honours, including the Haryana Vigyan Ratna and the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award ^[2]. Since retiring, he has advised farmers and staff at 31 sugar mills in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on raising yields with fewer inputs ^[2].