Human resource is undoubtedly the backbone of our industry business. With sound farming knowledge, distinctive agronomic strategies and modern machinery, our people help us building highly efficient and eco-friendly farms with higher yields. Our innovative farming techniques have also led us to build the capacity of existing farmers resulting in improved and reliable cane supply to JDW.
JDW believes in investing in our future by undertaking large scale research and development activities such as:-
Large scale farming operations cannot be managed effectively without mechanization. We have managed to acquire latest tractors and other farming equipment’s from local as well as foreign sources. In addition to that, we have rationalized farm layouts and combined the traditional farming techniques with newly acquired technologies to achieve maximum yield in the region. Few of our mechanized operations are given below:-
Precision Agriculture (PA) is the act of managing different land variables using latest technology such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS) and Yield Mapping. Adoption of PA practices can improve the efficiency and profitability of farming operations to a great extent. Under the supervision of foreign consultants, our engineering team is making full use of these techniques to achieve higher yield at lower costs.
Introduction of Puma 140 and CNP 140 with heavy offset disc plough for seed bed operations. Replacement of rotary hoe will stop deterioration of soil structure which leads to improve soil by maintaining soil porosity, water holding capacity, soil drainage and reduction of surface sealing.
Cultivating the right variety is imperative to sustainable and competitive farming. At JDW we have developed our own sugarcane varieties using conventional sugarcane breeding and selection processes. Parents with valuable traits are used for cross-pollination and are selected from our germplasm collection. This collection includes local selected varieties, clones from previous crosses and wild and foreign varieties. Local varieties are taken as parent material with sugarcane flower forcing. JDW got new seedling with local crosses to have better adoptive new cultivars. Further selection is underway from local crossed seedlings.
Due to the inherent nature of sugarcane crop, pest and disease outbreaks like red rot, pokah, WLD (White leaf disease) sugarcane pyrilla and sugarcane borer are a common feature. Also since the majority of our cane growing area lies along the Indus River there is a greater risk of presence of harmful weeds and herbs. JDW has established a separate bio-lab with a team of entomologists keeping a continuous check on the pest and disease situation and other entomological challenges common to sugarcane cultivation. Production of disease free seed for corporate farms and local growers. Production of certified seed (Disease free seed playing vital role in sugar industry). Recent tests revealed ratoon stunting RSD and White leaf disease WLD is found common in commercial cultivars of the area. In this scenario seed certification is important to keep sustain cane production through these locally adopted cultivars.
Creeping weeds like morning glory and twine vine are giving serious problem among farms. These weeds are introduced around flood areas around Indus river bank in 2010. A serious efforts of herbicide trials are underway to control and check the further spread of these weeds. JDW is making long and short term strategies which are at final stage.
Traditionally, aerial spraying of pesticides has been done using conventional fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters with a pilot onboard. However, this is changing. Small, remotely piloted aircraft are being used to apply pesticides around the world.
Drone sprayers will never replace ground or conventional aerial application technology, but they may complement existing spray practices. The future of drone spraying will be mainly affected by the crop height, timeliness and field condition in post rain and irrigation (i.e., which option may get the job done in the shortest time, desiccating high temperature may reduce the adhesiveness being small droplets from drone), the type of spraying to be done (insecticide or herbicide, use of water volume etc), and availability of local companies offering drone spraying.
JDW corporate farms also introduced drone spray to sugarcane crop especially when crop height hinders in traditional method of spray through tractors. Post rain or just after irrigation drone spray is being carried out when traditional way of spraying is impossible being wet field.
Hot water treatment is primarily required to ensure disease free seed for farms. Small portable HWT plant was setup in 2014 under crop improvement (R&D), new portable setup was imported last year and HWT started in 2016-17. Fixed hot water treatment plants of bigger capacity is now constructed at unit 1 and unit 4. These plants are now in operation. WLD and RSD is significantly controlled by HWT treatment in the region.
JDW has always emphasized on improving irrigation efficiency in the region. Over the years, irrigation using poor quality tube well water has led to serious soiled gradation that resulted in loss of yield. At JDW, all ground water sources are constantly tested in the laboratory to ensure that suitable water is supplied to crops. The farms are designed using latest laser levelling technology to ensure improved irrigation, at reduced costs and increasing yield potential. In recent times, addition of flow-meters on irrigation sources started to quantify the efficiency of irrigation. In addition, early hill up technique is developed to conserve moisture which leads to improve water use efficiency.
As part of our sustainability initiatives, JDW is prioritizing the use of solar energy to power our irrigation turbines. In 2025, we successfully designed and installed 53 solar-powered irrigation turbines 28 turbines of 40 KWH and 25 turbines of 30 KWH capacity. These turbines are now fully operational.
By harnessing the power of solar energy, we aim to minimize our environmental footprint while ensuring the long-term viability of our agricultural operations.
JDW has adopted the use of mechanical harvesters and prime mover cane transport systems for harvesting and transporting cane from farm to mill on timely basis. This saves a lot of harvesting and transportation costs and crucial cane nutrition. JDW currently operates 20 harvesters 7 machines for 4.5 and 13 machines for 6 feet planting geometry and has the capacity to mechanically harvest over 500,000/- tonnes of cane over 15,000/- acres per season. The mechanical harvest and transport system continues to evolve into a world class operation as efficiencies improve with new innovations, improved infrastructure and improved farm designs.
Cane production is affected by both harvesting and field issues which can impact on sugar quality and quantity. Both harvesting efficiency and crop presentation affect cane yield, cane quality and ratooning. Foreign consultants are working with JDW and have developed Harvesting Best Practice (HBP) guidelines to reduce cane loss, improve cane quality, and reduce stool damage. The HBP guidelines also focus on the impact that crop presentation has on harvesting efficiency. Information available covers topics such as farming for efficient harvesting; the effect of extractor fan speed on cane loss, crop yield, Commercial Cane Sugar (CCS), reduction in base cutter/chopper losses; and improvement in billet quality for planting
