The ethanol fuel boom is driving the expansion of sugarcane plantations in Roraima, Brazil's northernmost state, because of its stable climate and flat terrain — ideal for mechanized harvest. José Alberto Mattioni, of the Brazilian agricultural research agency Embrapa in Roraima, told Tierramérica that in the state's northeast there are nearly one million hectares of land available for new plantations.

“There is no need to occupy areas of the Amazon. Embrapa would never provide incentives to utilize forested areas for agriculture,” he said. Some indigenous communities have already expressed interest in growing sugarcane in Roraima.

At least two energy plants would need to begin operating there in 2009, with sights on supplying ethanol from sugarcane to neighboring Venezuela.