Perspectivas da lavoura canavieira no contexto do desenvolvimento sustentável em Pernambuco: cana crua versus cana queimada

Abstract

The cultivation of sugarcane plays an important role in Brazilian agribusiness and at the same time, displays great social and economic importance to the state of Pernambuco, with a harvest of 19,530,950 tonnes of the product in 2007/2008. In spite of the technological advancements made in several stages of its productive process, this activity is frequently associated with environmental contamination, due to the prior burning of the straw for manual and/or mechanized cutting. The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the sugarcane harvesting process practiced in Pernambuco’s Zona da Mata Norte and identify the difficulties for the adoption of the practice of raw sugarcane cutting. The research is founded on recent works about the need for practices of sustainable management of the land with the subsequent preservation of its fertility and its biological balance, of fundamental importance not only for this region – where soil and climatic conditions are less favourable – but also to meet the principles of sustainable management, conomically profitable, ecologically correct and socially just. To reach the objectives proposed, the research methodology adopted was of interviews with the representatives of the different segments involved in the process: producers, cane cutters and spokesmen of environmental organs, as well as, through comparative analysis between production costs in the modalities burnt cane and raw cane in a five year period. After analysis of the compiled data, a conclusion was reached about the advantages in the adoption of raw sugarcane harvesting and suggesting the expansion of the sample through new research which offers data for private investors and public administrators, aiming for the adoption of an attitude which reconciles increased productivity, socio-environmental security and respect for citizenship.