Benefits for the planet of sugar cane cultivation in Southwestern Colombia
Day after day, José Gabriel Asprilla carries his white flask with hot aguapanela in one hand, while with the other he carries his machete and shovel. At 65 years old, he has spent more than half of his life working among sugarcane crops. His speech seems alien to the bad habit of speaking, acting and thinking from the individualism: he always uses the words "we" or “us”, he always speaks in plural.
"The cane has brought us many benefits, for us there is a lot of work and permanent employment. We depend on this plant", says José Gabriel, who is currently in charge of the cleaning of sugarcane plantations in a natural reserve that implements sustainable practices in the cultivation of sugar cane since early 90´s.
When Gabriel is asked a word equivalent to sugar cane, the man responds confidently and without hurry "for us the cane is everything". ¿And how not to be? Sugar cane is a crop to improve the future of the planet, helping to mitigate climate change, generating wealth, wellbeing, development, and producing bioenergy and renewable biofuels, necessary to improve the living conditions of the planet.
In the everyday and monotonous colombian landscape, not only the history and the life of the peoples are gestated, but also the development of a visionary, inclusive and diverse region.
The Colombian sugar sector contributes land taxes, rent and trade for the benefit of the five departments where cane is planted (Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Risaralda, Caldas and Quindío), contributing to the social and economic stability of their communities. This contributes more than 12,500,000.00 dollars annually for the development of more than 100 municipalities.
The sustainable cane production schemes integrate the crop with fruit trees and palms, including animals such as sheep and bovines. These are raised in the middle of the plantation, producing animal protein. These schemes recognize the possibility of the appearance of weeds and plants that serve as food for these species and that they are hosts of beneficial insects that serve to control the pests that would attack the sugarcane.
Sugarcane captures 60 tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) per hectare (issued annually by 9 to 12 people). The total area sown in cane for sugar and ethanol (240,000 hectares) captures the CO2 emitted by 2.8 million people. Which is equivalent to 52.5% of the population of Colombia. Similarly, the total Colombian ethanol reduces emissions of greenhouse gases annually by more than 2.3 million tons.
Gabriel Asprilla says that in his workplace t"here are pipes that have 20 and 25 cuts, and when you talk to the neighbors and tell them that, they do not believe you. Elsewhere, every two or three years the earth and the reeds are turning. In the countryside people value the implementation of sustainable practices, it is a thousand times better because the land remains alive."
Today, farmers and industry are increasingly engaging in practices that favor the use of the whole plant for industrial benefit and the fraction of crop residues for soil improvement, so that sugar cane can be associated to other activities.
Gabriel thinks that the true heritage of Colombia is the soil, generator of the future: "sharing this is important, we believe it is an obligation to make a contribution on practices that improve climate conditions, and that have positive results from the environmental approach, social and economic."
Currently in Colombia there are more than 188,000 people linked to the cane sector for sugar and ethanol, there are 350,000 families dedicated to the cultivation of cane for panela production, and between cane for sugar and panela, close to 2,000,000 direct and indirect jobs are generated.
It is not utopic: in the geographical valley of the Cauca River in Collombia, initiatives are being developed by producers and industrialists of the sugar cane that are betting on these production schemes.
