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How to grow Sugarcane
Saccharum officinarum · Poaceae
Photo: ruurmo · CC BY-SA 2.0
Sugarcane is a tall, thick, sweet grass grown for the sugar it stores in its stalks. You never plant it from true seed — you plant setts (short lengths of stalk, each carrying a few buds, or "eyes"), and every bud sprouts its own shoot. It is a perennial: you plant once for the first "plant crop", cut it, then let the same roots push up again as a ratoon (the regrowth crop) for 2–4 more harvests before you plough out and replant. Two truths run through the whole crop and shape everything you do — sugarcane is very thirsty, and the moment a stalk is cut its sugar starts to break down, so cut cane must reach the mill fast.
Ton Rulkens · CC BY-SA 2.0 
Filo gèn' · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Days to maturity
- 360–540 days
- Row spacing
- 135 cm
- Sowing depth
- 5–10 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will sugarcane actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Sugarcane
suikerriet · sugarcane · canne à sucre · umoba · nzimbe · cana-de-açúcar · ipwa · mudzviti · muwa
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing sugarcane, stage by stage
Your sugarcane crop from setts to sugar — lay clean, disease-free seed cane in deep, well-drained soil, weed and feed the thirsty growing stalks hard, cut sweet cane and rush it to the mill, then bring the stubble back as ratoons for several more harvests.
- Get the land and clean seed cane ready
- Plant the setts and get a full stand
- Tillering — build the stalk count
- Grand growth — grow long, heavy stalks
- Ripening — let the cane build sugar
- Cut and rush it to the mill
- Bring back the ratoon
16 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for sugarcane — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack sugarcane
5 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your sugarcane right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does sugarcane take to grow?
Sugarcane takes about 360–540 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
How deep should sugarcane be planted?
Sow sugarcane at about 5–10 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack sugarcane?
The ones covered in this guide are Cereal stem borers, Eldana stalk borer, Fall armyworm. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow sugarcane with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first