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In contrast with traditional sugar cane
plantations, where the action of agrochemicals and the practice of
"queimadas" (burned-over land) destroy the organic matter
that is beneficial to the structure and fertility of the soil, the
production of sugar in the organic system promotes the recycling of
what remains from the culture. These remains (straw and bagasse) are
never burned but left instead on the soil during the process of
harvesting the sugar cane, returning thus to the soil part of the
nutrients lost by the plants during their development process. |
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Sugar cane can be planted in double lines (in the
system developed by the agronomist Sérgio Pimenta), allowing the
planting of other alimentary cultures (corn, beans, manioc) or
vegetable manures between the lines, which will contribute to the
fertility of the system.
Other products employed to increase soil fertility are bovine manure,
biofertilizers, ashes and phosphate or calcareous rock.
It should be pointed out that the agroecological practices of handling
are not sufficient to guarantee a long life to the production: it is
paramount to maintain the plantation in a system rich in biodiversity.
In other words, organic handling should not repeat the mistake of
traditional agriculture: to use wide expanses of land to cultivate
only one species (the monoculture), which causes ecological unbalances
in the system that are hard to solve, independently whether it used or
not agroecological techniques.
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organic
compost ready to be
used in farming |
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Thus it is important to
promote the policulture, planting other cultures that have commercial
value; besides guaranteeing ecological stability to farming, the
agriculturist will not be dependent solely on the organic sugar market
to provide for his family’s subsistence.
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Finally, with respect to sugar processing,
the conventional product is whitened by the addition of sulphur (in
those products based on sulphate), which is rejected by importing
countries that only buys from us the "demerara" sugar (that
which has not been through this process). The consumer of organic sugar,
on the other hand, consumes a non-whitened product (thus exempt of
sulphur) like the "mascavo" (purified) sugar, which has the
added benefits of vitamins (like calcium and iron) enriching its
nutritional value. |
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