Jul 30, 2010
Illegal Fires Detected in Sao Paulo Sugarcane Fields
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Agricultural officials in the state of Sao Paulo have been working hard over the last several years to eliminate the practice of burning the sugarcane prior to harvesting. Burning off the sugarcane leaves is an age-old practice that has been common in Brazil for hundreds of years. The leaves are burned off in order to facilitate the harvesting of the cane by hand. The problem is that the burning greatly adds to the amount of pollution in the air as well as increasing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from the sugarcane fields.
To the dismay of local officials, numerous fires were detected in sugarcane fields earlier this week near the city of Ribeirao Preto in northern Sao Paulo. Authorities are investigating if these fires were illegally set in order to prepare the fields for harvest or if they were accidental.
Sugarcane producers in Brazil are being forced to convert their operations from hand harvesting to mechanical harvesting as quickly as possible. Dry leaves are not a problem for mechanical harvest, in fact, the increased organic matter left in the field helps to increase the fertility of the soil as well as holding down the amount of soil erosion. The conversion process is being hampered by the lack of available mechanical harvesters. Only two manufactures in Brazil produce the harvesters and producers must wait months for delivery of new harvesters. As a result, sugarcane producers are being allowed to convert their harvesting operations over a number of years.
Owners of the sugarcane fields where the illegal fires were detected insist that the fires were accidental. Even if producers are still allowed to burn their fields, the burning is prohibited from 6 o'clock AM to 6 o'clock PM. The reason why burning is still allowed at night is because burning at night is believed not to be as harmful to resident's health as burning during the day when other pollutants may be high as well. Several of the fires were detected during the time of the day when burning is not allowed. Several other sugarcane producers indicated that the fires started accidentally in the dry fodder of sugarcane fields that had already been harvested mechanically and they then spread to nearby fields that had not yet been harvested.
The state of Sao Paulo accounts for approximately 60% of the sugarcane production in Brazil, which is the world's largest producer.