Brazil sugarcane production from Cerrado Region
Brazil is the world’s top producer and exporter of sugarcane. It supplies 50% of the world’s sugar, producing 654.8m tons of sugarcane, 41.25m tons of processed sugar and 29.7bn liters of ethanol annually. But the proportion of Brazilian land that is dedicated to sugarcane production is just 1% (8.66m ha) of the country’s total land area.
Sugar and ethanol manufacturing are key to the Brazilian economy. Sugarcane production in Brazil is a key sector from a social and developmental perspective. Around 40% of the sugarcane processed by Brazilian mills are supplied by some 76,000 independent farmers, in turn supporting hundreds of thousands of people.
Brazilian policy also helps sugarcane act as a driver for social development. For example, one piece of legislation stipulates that sugar exports from Brazil to Europe be sourced in the northeast region of Brazil, one of the most developmentally challenged areas of the country.
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area.
Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand. Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
The region is dominated by Oxisols.
Brazil sugarcane production from Cerrado Region
Brazil is the world’s top producer and exporter of sugarcane. It supplies 50% of the world’s sugar, producing 654.8m tons of sugarcane, 41.25m tons of processed sugar and 29.7bn liters of ethanol annually. But the proportion of Brazilian land that is dedicated to sugarcane production is just 1% (8.66m ha) of the country’s total land area.
Sugar and ethanol manufacturing are key to the Brazilian economy. Sugarcane production in Brazil is a key sector from a social and developmental perspective. Around 40% of the sugarcane processed by Brazilian mills are supplied by some 76,000 independent farmers, in turn supporting hundreds of thousands of people.
Brazilian policy also helps sugarcane act as a driver for social development. For example, one piece of legislation stipulates that sugar exports from Brazil to Europe be sourced in the northeast region of Brazil, one of the most developmentally challenged areas of the country.
The Cerrado was thought challenging for agriculture until researchers at Brazil’s agricultural and livestock research agency, Embrapa, discovered that it could be made fit for industrial crops by appropriate additions of phosphorus and lime. In the late 1990s, between 14 million and 16 million tons of lime were being poured on Brazilian fields each year. The quantity rose to 25 million tons in 2003 and 2004, equalling around five tons of lime per hectare. This manipulation of the soil allowed for industrial agriculture to grow exponentially in the area.
Researchers also developed tropical varieties of soybeans, until then a temperate crop, and currently, Brazil is the world's main soyabeans exporter due to the boom in animal feed production caused by the global rise in meat demand. Today the Cerrado region provides more than 70% of the beef cattle production in the country, being also a major production center of grains, mainly soya, beans, maize and rice. Large extensions of the Cerrado are also used for the production of cellulose pulp for the paper industry, with the cultivation of several species of Eucalyptus and Pinus, but as a secondary activity. Coffee produced in the Cerrado is now a major export.
The region is dominated by Oxisols.