Mechanization reaches 40% of the sugar cane area in SP
Valor Econômico - 04/11/2008
Little more than 40% of all sugar cane harvested area in the State is already mechanized. The survey was made by the Instituto de Economia Agrícola - IEA (Agricultural Economy Institue), based on harvest estimates supplied by the Cati (Coordenation of Integral Technical Assistance), both connected to the Agriculture Secretariat, referring to the period of June of last year, the most recent data. According to the survey, from the total of the estimated sugar production of 320 million tons for the period, 189 million were harvested manually - an average of 8.76 tons harvested per day per each person and 132 days worked in the harvest. The survey estimates that 163.1 thousand people work in the São Paulo sector. The municipalities with highest mechanization rates, with percentages above 50%, are Franca, Limeira, and Ribeirão Preto, with highly tecnified crops. Between 30% and 49% of the mechanization, the IEA survey mentions Campinas, Araraquara, Piracicaba, Itapetininga, Marília, General Salgado, and Araçatuba, which have not reached or are next to 20% yet. The survey also relates the level of mechanization and the generation of jobs. Ribeirão Preto, Araraquara, and Jaboticabal, which have high mechanization, are responsible for a high hirings' figure - 26,605. But the survey remarks that the mechanization annual growth of 1% will represent the exit of 2,700 sugar cane harvest workers. "It is still difficult to foresee how this manpower will be realocated, whether inside the sector itself or in other agricultural activities", says the survey. "It is assumed that part of this manpower will not be realocated because of its low level of education, resulting in an increase in the unemployment index". Mechanization is an environment priority of the State of São Paulo, since it reduces the harvests' burnings. The government established the years of 2021 (for plain areas) and 2031 (for areas with declivities) as the deadlines for the end of harvest's fires.