The foundation stone of the institute was laid on 16 February 1952[3] under the administrative control of the Indian Central Sugarcane Committee.

Efforts are on to marry agronomy, soil science and microbiology for improving sugarcane processing including gur and jaggery production.

The Basic objective of the Division is to conduct advanced research on diseases and pest management of sugarcane and other sugar crops.

The Division attends to the studies on tillering, germination, moisture stress, artificial ripening of crops, seed technology, enhancement of sucrose content, bioethanol production and management of post harvest losses.

The Division of Agricultural Engineering evolved out of a small workshop, started in 1952 at the inception of the Institute, for machining and fabrication of tools and equipment and has now grown to be a centre for strategic research on mechanization, water management and post harvest technology of sugarcane and sugar crops.

[10] It coordinates with the State Agricultural Universities and other research Centres and provides training, consultancy and advisory services to farmers and other users at national and international levels.

The Unit is a platform for research on improving technology of sugarcane processing for juice, jaggery and value added products.

It also sells produces such as Sugarcane, Wheat, Paddy, Gram, Mustard, Cane juice, Bael, Awanla and Mango commercially for revenue generation.

The Unit is also responsible for the dissemination of information and the preparation of annual reports, newsletters, technical bulletins and brochures.

The laboratory was originally a part of the Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry when it started in 1992 but, two years later, it was given independent status and the met yard was also merged with it.

IISR Library is a well stocked one with a collection of 10143 books, 390 periodicals, 18,000 volumes along with research journals, annual reports, these and monographs, some of them rare, on sugarcane and related topics.

The centre was formed with an aim to serve the farming community by delivering demand driven services with the assistance of qualified professionals.

It was set with a mandate to assess, refine, demonstrate and introduce modern technologies and products to the farming community.