Cane-sugar is better

Categorie(s): Agriculture, Ecology, News, Saving Energy

Ethiopian sugar, better  for the environment and climate

Grow less beet-sugar in Holland and improve cane-sugar growing in Ethi0pia. In the 50s and 60s of the last century the Dutch, of the Handelsvereniging Amsterdam,  started the sugar industry in Eastern Africa. Now the oldest factories Wonji (1954) en Shoa (1962) need to be replaced or modernized – and this is the right rime for the Dutch to invest again. But in a different way.

The factories now are very inefficient. Electricity is produced with steam, which is produced by burning bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane, 450 to 600 kilo is used per tonne cane. That can be done much more efficient. The unused bagasse can be used for household fuel.

In Ethiopia people still use much wood for fuel. This causes deforestation and erosion. Using bagasse instead can be an important weapon against environmental degradation. And the farmers get more fertilisers on their fields. Now cowdung  is often used as fuel. By using it as ferilizer they can have better harvests. Also the ‘cake’ that stays behind on the filters in the sugar factory can be used to improve the soil. Moreover the molasses can be used to make ethanol to be used as fuel for cars, making Ethiopia less dependent on  oil.

Sugar-cane can be a promising industry for Ethiopia. There is space enough.

Bagasse must be seen as a valuable product, now its value is underestimated. One tonne sugar-cane makes 300 kilo bagasse, that pays more than one  barrel of oil. That is why they also advise to develop the sugar industry of Mozambique too.

Good for Africa, but what is in this for the Dutch? The byproducts of beet-sugar are also used , but the industry takes much energy. Cane-sugar produces energy.  It grows in a tropical climate, and takes up a lot of solar energy. So replacing cane-sugar for beet-sugar can be a means to improve our global energy system.

sugar cane