Sugarcane ethanol: Contributions to climate change - BAFF

Prospects of the sugarcane expansion in Brazil
Figure 2. Spatial distribution of sugarcane crop in 2007 in the South-Central region of Brazil. Source:
INPE (www.dsr.inpe.br/canasat/).
Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Tocantins, capturing
both past and near future trends. A deeper description of each method follows below.
It is important to clarify the available sources of data regarding sugarcane area in Brazil, since
di�erent ones are used for di�erent purposes here. �e Brazilian Institute for Geography
and Statistics (IBGE) is the Brazilian o�cial organization which provides data on crops
area, production, yield, and several others variables. For estimation of planted and harvested
sugarcane area, two IBGE databases can be used: one from the systematical survey on
agricultural production (LSPA – Levantamento Sistemático da Produção Agrícola) and
the other from the agricultural production by municipality (PAM – Produção Agrícola
Municipal). While the former includes all area occupied with sugarcane – which consists of
areas to be harvested and new areas, to be harvested only next year – the latter just includes
harvested area in a certain year 4 . PAM data is available for all geographic scales, from 1990
to 2006 while LSPA data are forecasts from previous and current years subjected to change.
4 Sugarcane crop is harvested yearly for 5 or 6 consecutive years. In general, a�er that period the sugarcane �eld is
renewed and generally rotated for soil improvement during one season with a crop from the Leguminosae family.
Planted area (or total land occupied by sugarcane), therefore, is the area available for harvest of sugarcane plus
the area of sugarcane that is being renewed.
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