The Cana IAC Program completed 30 years this month. The celebrations were held last week, and celebrated the Agronomic Institute (IAC-APTA) technologies that contributed to the production and productivity gains seen in recent decades in the sugar-energy sector. The technological package developed by the program includes, in total, 34 varieties for this segment of the national economy, which has its leadership in São Paulo.
According to data collected by the institute, the varieties contributed to making productivity jump from 70 to around 87 tons of sugar cane per hectare, on average of five cuts, but with cases of units reaching more than 100 tons/hectare . In addition, the actions also resulted in gains of 30% in productivity generated by the Environment Matrix, 90% hits in the harvest estimate obtained with Prevclimacana IAC and the Pre-Sprouted Seedling System (MPB) generated results up to 20 times higher than obtained from traditional mechanized sugarcane planting.
In three decades, the IAC Sugarcane Program also developed the varietal management model with the concept of the Third Axis Matrix and the characterization of production environments through soil surveys, carried out in the Ambicana Project.
The Agronomic Institute's experimental network also revealed IAC clones that, due to their performance, became varieties currently cultivated in regions with significant water deficits. Among them, the following stand out: IAC91-1099, IACSP95-5000, IACSP95-5094 and IACSP97-4039.
“All of these adapt very well to regions with water deficit and bring the prospect of optimizing productivity in dry areas, previously occupied by pastures. The IACSP-015503 and IACCTC07-8008 varieties stand out in more restrictive environments”, comments Marcos Landell, leader of the IAC Cane Program and general director of the IAC, of the São Paulo Agribusiness Technology Agency (APTA), of the Secretariat of Agriculture. and Supply of the State of São Paulo.
To combat pests and diseases, the teams developed management technologies and analysis methods for disease diagnosis. The Sugarcane Program develops and transfers irrigated sugarcane production strategies to the sector, considering that irrigation is a safety factor with great potential for the verticalization of production.
The researchers also conduct studies in the area of nutrition, involving conventional fertilization and the use of waste. Varietal identification is obtained using the Fingerprint method, also created by the Cana IAC Program with the aim of guaranteeing the identity and respective characteristics of each variety.
To collaborate in the qualification of professionals, the Cana IAC Program holds courses for the sugar-energy sector with national coverage, annually.
A national reference and for countries interested in enabling sustainable sugarcane farming, the Program is developed in partnerships with the private sector. Currently, it brings together, in 11 Brazilian states, around 200 partner companies. In 2003, there were 30. There is also support from state and federal funding agencies.
The IAC officially began its studies with sugar cane 90 years ago. In 1934, at the IAC, the first sugarcane genetic improvement program was installed in the state of São Paulo and the first experiments on cultivation methods for the crop began.
“In the following decades, the Institute carried out important work in the area of nutrient calibration, which made it possible to establish a fertilizer indication table for sugar cane, for example, and became involved with the Biological Institute in the study of the main diseases of culture,” recalls Landell. At that time, sugarcane areas were still restricted. The significant expansion came with the creation of the Proálcool program.
In the second half of the eighties, the map of sugarcane farming in São Paulo changed. The region of Ribeirão Preto and the West of São Paulo came to be considered the main regions of “São Paulo sugarcane”. “The change in the way of harvesting from manually burned sugarcane to mechanical raw sugarcane required new studies and a new projection of the cultivars that would be launched in the years that followed through existing genetic improvement programs”, comments Landell.
These were the external events that took place in an area that currently covers around three million hectares and that previously occupied less than 1/3 of that space.
“In the midst of this complex context, the Cana IAC Program was created in 1994, bringing together a small number of researchers, who entered into several partnerships with associations of planters and agribusinesses to execute projects aimed at meeting the expected demands”, he says.
In addition to contributing to the sector in the development of varieties and management systems, the Agronomic Institute also collaborated in the creation of improvement programs for Planalsucar and Copersucar, at the end of the 60s. In this action, which boosted sugarcane agriculture in Brazil, IAC researchers Carlos Arnaldo Krug and Hermindo Antunes Filho participated.
At that time, despite the IAC's scientific programming being directed towards other crops, 20 projects were still maintained in what was then called the Sugarcane Section.
In 1972, IAC and Copersucar signed an agreement to introduce new plant materials. As a result of this partnership, 678 genotypes from various countries entered Brazil, until 1983. The agreement also made it possible for, from 1976 onwards, the IAC to use the crossing fields in Camamu, Bahia, belonging to Planalsucar. The Bahian region has suitable climatic conditions for hybridization. At that time, the IAC carried out the crossings in Ubatuba, on the coast of São Paulo, which does not have ideal conditions for this stage of genetic improvement.
The regionalization of sugarcane genetic improvement began with researcher Raphael Alvarez, at the end of the 1980s, a period in which Planalsucar and Copersucar programs retreated. This scenario led to the repositioning of the IAC program. The administrative section form was abolished and the program was incorporated into the former Division of Experimental Stations of the IAC, which brought together all of the Institute's farms in the state of São Paulo. This reform increased the research interface with the sugar-energy sector in a decentralized manner. The Cana IAC Program was born.
The objective was to meet a demand from the sector, which encouraged the implementation of a cooperation program for the development of varieties. In October 1994, ProCana was officially created: a cooperation agreement between the IAC, sugar and alcohol agribusinesses and the Agricultural Research Support Foundation (Fundag).
The main project focused on genetic improvement targeting more productive sugarcane varieties, with higher sugar content and other characteristics of economic interest. Projects in the area of phytotechnics interact with studies in physiology, phytopathology, entomology, pedology, fertility, fertilization, climatology and matology. Teams from IAC and APTA Piracicaba Regional participate in the Program.
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