ECONOMY-CUBA: 1001 Uses for Sugar Cane

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Jun 5 2001 (IPS) - Cuba hopes to expand the development of sugar cane by-products to ease its dependence on sugar exports, as the constant price swings, heavy European Union subsidies for sugar beet farmers and persistently low sugar yields paint a difficult panorama for that strategic sector of the Cuban economy.

Against that backdrop, sugar industry authorities are convinced that diversifying production in the sector is the only alternative, if Cuba is to efficiently exploit its sugar cane harvest.

Official sources acknowledge that the economic crisis that has made life extremely difficult in Cuba for over a decade, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, has stood in the way of developing an industry of sugar cane derivatives, given the need to concentrate all available resources in the production of sugar.

But in 1997 the advantages of assigning resources for the manufacturing of sugar cane by-products began to be discussed once again.

The specialised press pointed out that the decision was based on the view that the growth of agribusiness could not rest exclusively on the production of sugar, given the limitations of local soil and climatic conditions, which make annual yields higher than seven million tonnes impossible.

Cuba’s main, and oldest, industry has an installed capacity for producing 10 million tonnes of sugar a year, although output averaged seven million tonnes throughout the 1980s, and plunged to 3.2 million tonnes in 1995.

The 2000-2001 harvest is projected at 3.5 million tonnes, down from 4.05 million in the 1999-2000 harvest season.

Experts point out that the actual sweetener only represents approximately 10 percent of the sugar cane. The residue, or bagasse, has long been undervalued in Cuba, but is actually more valuable than the sugar itself, at least in potential terms.

There is a long list of possible sugar cane by-products. The alcohol derived from the juice can be processed to create synthetic fibers, paint, varnish, and electric insulating and plastic industry materials.

The marketing of such products would enable Cuba to increase up to fivefold the revenues it currently takes in from the sale of a ton of sugar, according to experts.

Government statistics indicate that the sales of Tecnoazúcar, the Cuban company in charge of marketing and diversifying sugar cane by-products, could rise 1.6 percent this year with respect to last year’s sales of 13 million dollars.

A significant part of that increase is expected to result from sales of rum and fibreboard produced from sugar cane bagasse, although organic sugar (produced without chemicals), which was recently added to the list of export products, also enjoys good prospects.

Sugar cane bagasse, the residues left over after the juice is squeezed out of the cane, accounts for 65 percent of the derivatives. The Union for Research and Production (known as Cuba 9) has played a key role in developing by-products from the cellulose of sugar cane bagasse.

The company, which answers to the Sugar Ministry, was created 20 years ago as part of a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project for manufacturing newsprint paper and other products from sugar cane bagasse.

Cuba 9 also produces plaques for electric transformers (Filtec) that are used in the manufacturing of the locally produced hepatitis B vaccine and in culture mediums employed in biological research.

In the field of veterinary medicine, the firm produces Ligmed A for treating diarrhea in swine. The medicine was developed jointly with the National Centre on Plant and Animal Health based on lignin, an organic substance that along with cellulose forms the woody cell walls of plants and the cementing material between them.

Ligmed A is used to treat colibacillosis (acute diarrhea) in pigs within 48 hours, without any harmful side-effects. It is also a preventive remedy, and is complemented by the Gavac anti-tick vaccine patented several years ago by Cuba’s Institute of Genetic Engineering.

Meanwhile, a project that has UNDP support to generate electricity based on the biomass of sugar cane bagasse year-round is set to take an enormous stride forward in the use of alternative sources of energy.

Cuba’s sugar mills currently produce an average of 27 kilowatt- hours per ton of milled sugar during harvest season, which runs from December through April or May.

However, studies conducted by researchers at the Melanio Hernández sugar mill in the province of Sancti Spiritus, 350 kms from Havana, indicate that electricity could be generated throughout the year.

The project, which would require the planting of a special strain of sugar cane, could provide around 30 kilowatt-hours per ton of biomass, and push alcohol production up to 1,000 hectolitres a day, compared to the current capacity of 650.