TECHNOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SUGARCANE MECHANIZATION

The expectations of expansion of the cultivated area with sugarcane, from 7 million hectares in 2008 up to 14 million hectares in 2030, will demand significant alterations in the whole mechanization system, in order to place the activity in less vulnerable levels of sustainability. The sugarcane is a semi perennial crop typically grown in cycles of four–seven years, producing on average 81 ton/ ha-year (CONAB, 2008). About 1.4 million hectares are replanted every year, and in only 30% of them mechanical planters are used, in the remaining of the area planting is semi mechanized. The method is totally manual and restricted to areas of little significance with high steepness, predominantly in the northeast part of Brazil. Sugarcane is usually planted in the rainy period, between January and March, to be harvested in the following crop season, causing a productive system deficit of one year. During the period between the harvest of the last cycle and the planting of the new one, some mills do crop rotation with legume species. Cane harvesting use to be traditionally done manually, but it has witnessed a rapid transformation in the last decade due to mechanical harvesting, , mainly as a response to environmental legislation that restricts the use of field burning. The increase of ethanol production certainly passes through changes in both: the agricultural and the industrial process so as to make possible the integral use of the sugarcane produced. According to Dourado Neto (2007) the current production model needs to be reformulated to increase productivity, from an economic, social and environmental sustainability point of view; it TECHNOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SUGARCANE MECHANIZATION