Sugar Cane
Sugar Cane is found is many parts of the world and can adapt to all seasons as it is a long duration crop but grows best in wetland biomes. It needs a moist environment to survive because the crop remains in the soil all year long. It is one of the world's most water-intensive and thirstiest crops and as such its production can affect environmentally sensitive regions such as the Mekong Delta and Atlantic Forest. Production of sugar cane in many parts of the world has caused alterations to the biomes due to the installation of irrigation systems and clearing of land and soil. This has, in turn, produced soil erosion and pollution caused by burning of sugar cane and loss of habitat for animals. In some African countries, the …show more content…
Due to its high water content, it is costly to transport sugar cane so it is necessary to grow sugar cane close to the factory.
The result is that there is a need for additional infrastructures such as houses, schools and medical & recreational facilities to accommodate people employed by sugar cane companies. This means that more land needs to be cleared not just for the sugar cane to be grown but also for the associated infrastructure to be built.
(b) Many ecosystems around the world and in particular the tropics have been altered because of the planting of sugarcane with a dozen countries around the world devoting 25% or more of there agricultural land to the production of sugar cane. An enormous scale of sugar cane has degraded tropical forests, fragile coastal wetlands and islands, with millions of hectares under production. Tropical forests, the entire natural habitat of thousands of islands, and millions of hectares of fragile coastal wetlands have been cleared around the world or otherwise converted for planting sugar cane for nearly 500 …show more content…
Soil erosion is considered low as the sugarcane is replanted only every six or seven years. The Brazilian sugarcane industry also tries to keep soil stable by strategies such as: rotating crops with soybeans or peanuts, using green fertilisers and using a no-till system. In certain parts of Brazil sugarcane has been produced on the same soil for more than 200 years.
The heavy and reliable rainfall in South-Central Brazil, where most of the country’s crop is grown, is the reason why sugar cane is usually not irrigated. Because of the significantly large amounts of water held inside the crop, a lot of water that the mill collects comes from sugar cane itself. The water used by mills have reduced by 70% during the past two decades because of Brazil’s efficiency on saving the water used during this process.
Furthermore, more efficient uses of containing the water in sugar cane are being developed using new technologies. This will mean water withdrawal could be reduced to 0.5 m3/ton. At the present time, 95% of the water used by mills is treated and re-used to try and save
Sugar Cane is found is many parts of the world and can adapt to all seasons as it is a long duration crop but grows best in wetland biomes. It needs a moist environment to survive because the crop remains in the soil all year long. It is one of the world's most water-intensive and thirstiest crops and as such its production can affect environmentally sensitive regions such as the Mekong Delta and Atlantic Forest. Production of sugar cane in many parts of the world has caused alterations to the biomes due to the installation of irrigation systems and clearing of land and soil. This has, in turn, produced soil erosion and pollution caused by burning of sugar cane and loss of habitat for animals. In some African countries, the …show more content…
Due to its high water content, it is costly to transport sugar cane so it is necessary to grow sugar cane close to the factory.
The result is that there is a need for additional infrastructures such as houses, schools and medical & recreational facilities to accommodate people employed by sugar cane companies. This means that more land needs to be cleared not just for the sugar cane to be grown but also for the associated infrastructure to be built.
(b) Many ecosystems around the world and in particular the tropics have been altered because of the planting of sugarcane with a dozen countries around the world devoting 25% or more of there agricultural land to the production of sugar cane. An enormous scale of sugar cane has degraded tropical forests, fragile coastal wetlands and islands, with millions of hectares under production. Tropical forests, the entire natural habitat of thousands of islands, and millions of hectares of fragile coastal wetlands have been cleared around the world or otherwise converted for planting sugar cane for nearly 500 …show more content…
Soil erosion is considered low as the sugarcane is replanted only every six or seven years. The Brazilian sugarcane industry also tries to keep soil stable by strategies such as: rotating crops with soybeans or peanuts, using green fertilisers and using a no-till system. In certain parts of Brazil sugarcane has been produced on the same soil for more than 200 years.
The heavy and reliable rainfall in South-Central Brazil, where most of the country’s crop is grown, is the reason why sugar cane is usually not irrigated. Because of the significantly large amounts of water held inside the crop, a lot of water that the mill collects comes from sugar cane itself. The water used by mills have reduced by 70% during the past two decades because of Brazil’s efficiency on saving the water used during this process.
Furthermore, more efficient uses of containing the water in sugar cane are being developed using new technologies. This will mean water withdrawal could be reduced to 0.5 m3/ton. At the present time, 95% of the water used by mills is treated and re-used to try and save