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Paradise for anyone with a sweet tooth
Five million tonnes of sugarcane a year
In the Sertaozinho region of Brazil there
operates a large and sweet company. The
Santa Elisa sugar factory annually refi nes
fi ve million tonnes of sugarcane for the
world’s markets. Most of the sugarcane
used at the factory comes from the com-
pany’s own fi elds, while a small propor-
tion is purchased from local farmers who
supply the factory.
The Santa Elisa sugar factory cultivates around
30 000 hectares of sugarcane in the vicinity of
the factory itself. The harvesting cycle for sug-
arcane is fi ve years. After the fi fth harvest, the
fi elds are ploughed to a depth of 20 centime-
tres, and a single crop of fast-growing peanuts
is planted. After the peanuts have been harvest-
ed, it is time again for sugarcane. After plant-
ing half-metre tall sugarcane plants to a depth
of just under 20 centimetres, the soil is left
unploughed for fi ve years. The yield is around 75
tonnes of sugarcane per hectare.
Mechanised harvesting taking over
Traditionally, sugarcane has been harvested
by hand. When the sugarcane plants are ready
for harvesting, their leaves begin to dry and
the crops are burnt. There are two main pur-
poses for doing this: the dry leaves are very
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sharp and thus hinder the harvesting process
by hand considerably. Secondly, the fi re drives
away snakes and any other unwanted critters
from the fi elds. After the fi re, men with long
knives rush to cut the sugarcane, which meas-
ures from three to four metres in height. The
work must be done fast, as the sugar begins to
decompose around one day after it is burnt.
In recent years, the share of harvesting
work done by hand has decreased. Already half
of Santa Elisa’s crops are harvested by machine,
and this proportion is growing all the time. Each
One truck is responsible for two trailers.
While one trailer is transported to the
factory, the other is loaded. The factory
uses its own truck to move the trailers.
The truck driver does not need to get out
of the cab when connecting or disconnecting
trailers.
The harvesting of sugarcane continues
night and day from March to October,
putting huge demands on farmers and
machinery. Expertise and reliability are
key factors for successful harvesting.