Biofuels in Perspective

Bio-Ethanol Development(s) in Brazil 63
centers and universities. More oriented R&D efforts started in the 1970s with adaptation
and optimization of technologies from other sugar and ethanol producing countries, and
further with the development of technologies more suited to the local conditions.
Sugarcane research started in Brazil in the early 1930s as a consequence of destruction
of plantations due to virus attack. Later, in early 1980s, a more ambitious program aiming
at developing new varieties was developed due to the catastrophic effects of diseases
(consequence of the enlarged planted area and availability of very few varieties). The R&D
efforts were later focused on the enlargement of sugar and ethanol productivity.
In fact, diversification of cane varieties is part of the pest and disease control strategy.
Currently there are more than 500 commercial varieties of sugar cane. The top 20 occupy
80 % of the total cane area and the leading variety occupies only 13 %. The duration of
use for each variety is becoming increasingly shorter, and at the same time, the number of
varieties in use at any given time has been growing. 21
Agricultural yields and the amount of sucrose in the plant have a strong impact on costs
of sugarcane products. Agricultural yields depend on soil quality, weather conditions,
agricultural practices and are also strongly influenced by agricultural management (e.g.
planting and harvesting timing and choice of sugarcane varieties). The average productivity
in the largest area of sugarcane production (Centre-South Region) is around 84 t/ha in a
five-cut cycle, but it could be as high as 110–120 t/ha in the state of São Paulo; 22 87 t/ha
is the current average figure in state of São Paulo. 23 Sugarcane cultivation in Brazil is
based on a ratoon-system, i.e. after the first cut the same plant is cut several times on a
yearly bases. 24 It is worth mentioning that these yield figures cannot be strictly compared
with yields reached in other countries as sugarcane cultivation in Brazil is done without
irrigation. Since 1975 yields have grown almost 60 % due to the development of new
varieties and to the improvement of agricultural practices.
The development of cane varieties also aims to increase the sugar content in the
sugarcane – which is expressed by the total reducing sugars (TRS) index. The TRS impacts
both sugar and ethanol production and, for this reason, is considered on the sugarcane
payment. To give an idea of the evolution achieved, in 25 years TRS almost double and
best practice figures are close to 15 %. 5 The combination of higher yields and higher TRS
result in lower land use: e.g. to obtain the production of 425 million tonnes (2006) with the
productivity of 1975 (about 50 t/ha), more 3 Mha would be necessary.
The largest R&D program in the world regarding genetic development of sugarcane
varieties was conducted in Brazil by CTC (former Copersucar Technology Center, currently
Sugarcane Technology Center). The main targets of the program were the increase of the
TRS, the development of disease-resistant varieties, better adaptation to different soils
and the extension of the crushing season. 25 Still regarding improvements on sugarcane
varieties, it is worth mentioning the Sugarcane EST Project – SUCEST, which started in
1999. As a result, by the end of 2003 more than 90 % of sugarcane genes were identified.
In addition, many of the results achieved in sugarcane agriculture are due to the introduction
of machinery for soil preparation and soil conservation. Machinery was introduced
in many operations during the last 30 years, but advances on harvesting are more recent.
Currently, in the Centre-South region mechanized harvest is applied over about 40 % of
the sugarcane planted area, being 25–30 % harvested without previous burning of the
field. 23 Sugarcane is usually burned in the field to allow higher throughput during manual
harvesting (without previous burning, the costs of manual harvesting would be about
three times higher); during the burning process leaves and tops of the plant are almost