Sugar Beet Cultivation in the Tropics and Subtropics:Challenges and Opportunities

Sugar beet, an important sugar crop, is particularly cultivated in humid regions to producebeet sugar, fulfilling about 25% of the world’s sugar requirement, supplementing cane sugar. However,sugar beet is not well adopted in the farming system of the tropics and subtropics, which is largelydue to the historically well-established production technology of sugarcane and the lower awarenessamong local growers of sugar beet cultivation. Thus, the poor understanding of pest and diseasemanagement and the lack of processing units for sugar beet partially hinder farmers in the large-scaleadaptation of sugar beet in the tropics and subtropics. Recent climatic developments have drawnattention to sugar beet cultivation in those regions, considering the low water demand and about halfthe growing duration (5–6 months) in contrast to sugarcane, sparing agricultural land for an extracrop. Nevertheless, a considerable knowledge gap exists for sugar beet when closely compared tosugarcane in tropical and subtropical growth conditions. Here, we examined the leverage of existingpublished articles regarding the significance and potential of sugar beet production in the tropicsand subtropics, covering its pros and cons in comparison to sugarcane. The challenges for sugarbeet production have also been identified, and possible mitigation strategies are suggested. Ourassessment reveals that sugar beet can be a promising sugar crop in tropical and subtropical regions,considering the lower water requirements and higher salt resistance