Cuba to attend Congress of the International Society of Sugarcane Technicians

HAVANA, Cuba, August 1 (ACN) A Cuban delegation will attend the 32nd Congress of the International Society of Sugarcane Technicians (ISSCT), to be held August 22-31in Cali, Colombia.

The Cuban Sugarcane Technicians Association (ATAC) confirmed the news exclusively to the Cuban News Agency, according to which six authors from the Sugarcane Research Institute (INICA by its Spanish acronym) will present eight specialized papers at the event.

Their presentations are related to the risk assessment of sugarcane diseases, the incidence of these diseases and insect pests in the crop, and the updating of the agroclimatic zoning of their areas, according to Eduardo Lamadrid Martinez, president of the group.

Also included are trials of sugarcane resistance to brown rust and smut, the main edaphic degradation factors due to the agro-productive grouping of soils planted with sugarcane, and the most feasible diagnostic technique for the detection of Leifsonia xyli subsp. Xyli, the bacterium that causes stunting disease.

Lamadrid Martinez announced that the group is completed by PhD. Oscar Almazan del Olmo, Honorary Life Member of the ISSCT and a member of the Association's board as its Councilor.

Founded in 1924 at its first founding congress, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, it has representatives from more than 70 countries, and ATAC has traditionally participated in all of them and is a member of its Executive Council.