news Archives - Page 3 of 11 - Sugarcane Industry

25 October, 20223 November, 2022

The Sugar Race returns in its 35th edition and marks the beginning of the Zafra 2022-2023

With the participation of around two thousand five hundred runners, on October 23rd the 35th edition of the Sugar Race was held, organized by the Guatemala Sugar Technicians Association -Atagua-, with the support of the Guatemalan Sugar Producers Association -Asazgua-.

The Sugar Race marks the beginning of the Zafra, which is the harvest season for sugarcane and sugar production on the South of Guatemala. It had a 10.5-kilometer route and was divided into the categories Free, Master, Sugar Mill Workers and Atagua’s associates.

The sweetest race of the year began with the arrival of runners, family members and fans at Ingenio Concepcion in Escuintla; then, the runners gathered behind the start line where they sang the national anthem and at 8:00 Luis Miguel Paiz, general manager of Asazgua, gave the starting signal.

Thousands of runners filled the main streets of the City of Escuintla and hundreds of people cheered them on. During the 10.5 kilometers of the race route, there were hydration stations and medical assistance.

The first to cross the finish line was Alberto González Mindez, completing the course in 30 minutes and 21 seconds. Viviana Arochi was the first woman to conquer the route in 37 minutes and 21 seconds. The winner of first place in the male Master´s category was Francisco González Sut, with 33:56 minutes and the female Master was Olga Mariela Rodas Morales with 42:44.

At the end of the race, there were contests and prizes for the attendees, while the runners made use of the showers and enjoyed the hydration made available to them by the organizers.

17 October, 2022

In Guatemala 91% of vehicles that transport sugarcane use private roads built by the Sugar Industry

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry has build internal roads to transport sugarcane

In Guatemala 91% of the sugarcane produced is transported through an internal network of private roads built by the Guatemalan Sugar Industry. It means that only 1 out of every 10 vehicles that transport sugarcane uses national highways, the rest travel more than 2 thousand kilometers of roads or sugarcane routes that connect the cane fields with the factories in the sugar mills and that receive maintenance every year.

This internal road network of private roads helps to reduce the circulation of sugarcane trucks on national routes and are also used by dozens of communities as alternate routes.

In the “sugarcane route” road safety measures are applied such as signalmen or banderilleros in the sections where the transport of sugarcane crosses the roads to avoid accidents.

Thanks to an agreement between the Guatemalan Sugar Industry and the Technical Training Institute -Intecap-, all the pilots who transport sugarcane are trained and certified by said institution to guarantee that they have the skills to perform the job.

Transport Policy of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry

Once the sugarcane is harvested in the field, it is transported to the sugar mill factories to be transformed into sugar. In the last 20 years, the Guatemalan Sugar Industry has transformed the transport practices of the harvested sugarcane.

These practices have regulations within the transport union policy, which is mandatory for all sugarcane transport drivers. The Sugar Industry has a continuous education and training program to facilitate the practical implementation of all standards.

In addition, the regulations of the policy dictate that all sugarcane transport units must have side and rear signage, mechanical maintenance program in sugar mills workshops and sugarcane fixing when appropriate.

The Transport Union Policy is also mandatory knowledge and compliance for all suppliers that provide sugarcane transport services to sugar mills. Compliance with these measures is verified by the Guatemalan Sugar Producers Association inspectors.

29 September, 20226 October, 2022

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry contributes to sanitation and water in local communities

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry contributes to sanitation and water in communities

The Guatemalan sugar producers through their foundation, Fundazucar, handed over 4 technical plans for water and sanitation that will benefit 12,185 people in the Pacific Lowlands of the country.

The studies were delivered to local authorities. They meet the requirements and standards of government institutions, which will facilitate the obtention of economic funds for their development.

Fundazucar provides free technical assistance and advice through the Engineering and Water Sanitation Unit -Unisan- for the elaboration of water and sanitation projects, which are necessary to obtain the allocation of funds for their construction. Local government authorities oversee the financing, and als the execution of water and sanitation infrastructure projects.

This unit, created in 2001, promotes the execution of water and sanitation infrastructure projects at the municipal level, providing professional technical assistance. By this, the Guatemalan Sugar Industry contributes to the well-being and development of the local communities.

8 September, 2022

Economic Development Strategy for Fishing and Gastronomic Tourism

Capacitaciones servicio al cliente por Fundazucar

In 2021, the Economic Development Strategy for Fishing and Gastronomic Tourism on the South of Guatemala was launched, which is carried out in partnership between the Sugar Foundation -Fundazucar-, the Ministry of Economy -Mineco- Ministry of National Defense – Mindef-, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food -MAGA- and six municipalities.

The strategy aims to recover and generate new sources of income for fishermen and workers in the tourism sector in the municipalities of the beach area of the South of Guatemala, as well as to generate sources of employment.

Among the actions carried out within the framework of this strategy are training such as:

Business and fishing strengthening given by Mindef and Mineco.
Gastronomic diversification: good manufacturing practices and marketing of the finished product taught by Fundazucar to 269 chefs and cooks from hotels and restaurants.
Excellence in customer service by Fundazucar to 253 hotel and restaurant employees.
Seafood Cuisine: innovative recipes based on seafood taught by Intecap with scholarships granted by Fundazucar to 231 chefs and cooks from hotels and restaurants.

Once the training has been completed, Fundazucar focuses on the formulation of tourism development plans in conjunction with community members and local authorities. In addition, it will support the dissemination of tourist services in the participating municipalities and the creation of gastronomic festivals.

16 August, 20228 September, 2022

Health workers participate in the “Information for Action” seminars by Fundazucar

The Sugar Foundation -Fundazucar- in alliance with the Pan-American University -UPANA- and the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance -MSPAS- impart preventive health seminars “Information for Action” to 500 public health workers from the South of Guatemala.

The seminars will be held in 3 sessions of 5 hours each in August, September, and November of this year, in which health workers from the Guatemalan departments of Escuintla, Suchitepéquez, Retalhuleu, Santa Rosa and Jutiapa participate. The call has been a success because 95% participation of public health professionals has been reached in the first seminar.

The training will be given by UPANA and the following topics will be addressed:

Situation room: elements, structure, and analysis.
Future of non-communicable chronic diseases -CND-: evolution, impact, and vigilance.
Data for decision making: collection, databases and introduction to data mining.

The objective of these seminars is to strengthen the technical skills and attitude of service of public health servers. It also seeks to deepen epidemiological surveillance, so that the health service can focus in a timely manner on health promotion and disease prevention.

Epidemiological surveillance consists of collecting data on a specific health problem; its analysis, interpretation and use in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of health programs.

Last year, 535 health professionals from the South of Guatemala were trained by the Sugar Foundation -Fundazucar-, in alliance with the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance in methodologies for the prevention of COVID-19 and strategies for the promotion preventive health in diseases such as dengue, zika and chikungunya; as well as monitoring of pregnant women and women with children up to two years old in what is called the “window of a thousand days”.

26 July, 202226 July, 2022

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry acquires commitments to preserve and restore biodiversity

Presentation of the guidelines for the conservation and restoration of biological diversity

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry, with the technical advice of the Private Institute for Climate Change Research -ICC- and with the support of the Biodiversity and Business program in Central America and the Dominican Republic of the German Technical Cooperation -GIZ-, announced the commitments and “Guidelines for the Preservation and Restoration of the Biological Diversity in the Guatemalan Production of Sugar”.

Aware that Guatemala is one of the 20 megadiverse countries in the world, the directors of all the sugar mills, members of the Guatemalan Sugar Producers Association, approved the guidelines to take specific actions to meet the goal of care and restore the biodiversity in the sugarcane zone.

“In the agro-landscape where sugarcane is grown were documented a third of all the birds know to live in the country. 248 species of birds have been identified in the forests and forest segments within the land where sugarcane grows, 55 of these species are protected according to international and national conservation lists, in addition 78 species of migratory birds find refuge in the sugar cane agro-landscape. ”, explained Alex Guerra, director of the ICC.

“Caring for this biological wealth in our environment is fundamental; thats why we’ve made commitments to carry out our operations in a sustainable way, prioritizing conservation and restoration so that the present and future generations can enjoy the flora and fauna that take refuge in the sugarcane zone”, said Alfredo Vila, president of the Guatemalan Sugar Producers Association -Asazgua-.

Result of over 5 years of investigation

After more than 5 years of studies at the sugarcane landscape, ICC experts documented the existence of a great biological wealth. In Guatemala the sugarcane grows at the south of the country, in a landscape mixed with forests and other plantations.

With the technical support of the ICC and GIZ, guidelines for the conservation and restoration of biological diversity in the production of Guatemalan Sugar were developed.

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry will have the scientific advice of the ICC to implement the guidelines, according to the natural conditions of each work area.

“The biological wealth that provides refuge to multiple species in the sugarcane agro-landscape is a treasure that must be taken care of. It is crucial to protect the biological biodiversity in the world and here, the Guatemalan Sugar Industry has taken important commitments to allow Guatemala’s natural legacy to be perpetuated and inherit it to future generations” added Alfredo Vila president of the Guatemalan Sugar Producers Association -Asazgua-.

Click here to see the full document (in Spanish).

20 July, 202227 July, 2022

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry generated 1,784 GWh of renewable energy

Renewable energy by the Guatemalan Sugar Industry

During the 2021-2022 Zafra, the Guatemalan Sugar Industry generated 1,784 GWh of renewable energy from sugarcane biomass. For this, more than 6.4 million tons of sugarcane bagasse were used, resulting from the sugar production process.

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry contributed with 26% of the energy consumed in the country during the last Zafra, according to the Association of Independent Cogenerators of Guatemala -ACI-.

The generation of energy from the Sugar Industry is strategic for the country since it takes place during the sugarcane harvest and sugar production season called Zafra. This starts in November and ends in May, so it includes the dry season months when the hydroelectric plants reduce their contribution to the National Interconnected System. This helps keep energy prices stable.

Sugar mills are self-sufficient

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry has an installed generation capacity of 992 MW, this makes them self-sufficient in the energy field since they generate their own energy, and the surplus is sold to the National Interconnected System.

On average, 67% of the energy produced during the Zafra by the Sugar Industry is injected into the National Interconnected System to meet national demand and exports to Central America and Mexico. The remaining 33% is used for the operation of the factories of the sugar mills.

During the 2021/22 harvest, the cogeneration plants generated 1,784 (GWh) gigawatt-hours of renewable energy to deliver to the grid; the equivalent of 2 times the consumption of all the Municipal Electric Companies of Guatemala for 1 year or all the energy consumed by the more than 1.1 million users for a year.

With the generation of renewable energy, up to 4 million tons of CO2eq are prevented from reaching the environment each year, according to a study of the Carbon Footprint of Guatemalan Sugar, carried out by the Private Institute for Research on Climate Change of Guatemala -ICC-.

29 June, 2022

The Guatemalan Sugar reaches 43 countries

Sugar from Guatemala sweetened 43 countries in 2021. Last year, sugar and its byproducts represented 4% of the country’s total exports, equivalent to 520 million dollars in foreign currency for the country.

The main countries to which Guatemalan Sugar was exported in 2021 were the United States, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan, Haiti, Libya, Jamaica, Italy, Ghana, and Malaysia.

By continent, the main export destinations for Guatemalan sugar are America with 50%, Africa with 15%, Asia with 22%, Europe with 11% and Oceania with 2%.

Of the exports of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry in 2021, 65.7% was sugar, 22.4% alcohol and 11.9% molasses.

Waste is transformed and reused for export

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry takes advantage of their residues, which are transformed to be reused. This is the case of alcohol or ethanol, which is produced with molasses and 55 million gallons are produced each year, most of which are exported.

Guatemalan ethanol is used for cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, liquor production and as a fuel. The five main countries where this product was exported in 2021 were: The Netherlands, the United States and its territories, Mexico, Switzerland, and El Salvador.

In addition, during the sugar production process, other types of honey or molasses are also exported and according to data from the Bank of Guatemala in 2021, 72.5% went to the United States; 13.9% to the United Kingdom; 5.5% to Guyana; 5.2% to the Netherlands and 3% to Canada.

Sugar from Guatemala and its byproducts are the second largest export agro-industrial product in Guatemala and one of the main products exported by the country.

17 June, 202223 June, 2022

Fundazucar celebrates 32 years of promoting health, education, and development on the South of Guatemala

32 years ago, the Guatemalan Sugar Industry joined forces and created the Sugar Foundation -Fundazucar-, which was born as the dream of a group of visionary businessmen who bet on education to promote development on the South of Guatemala.

Fundazucar is the social arm of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry, since 1990 it promotes the integral development of the communities, working with women, youth, health workers, teachers, community leaders and municipal authorities as agents of change.

At the Guatemalan Sugar Industry, we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of Fundazucar, which believes in development through training, an example of which is Better Families, a model that promotes Food and Nutritional Security, self-esteem, self-management and leadership in women, as agents of change for the development and well-being of their families and their communities and has trained more than 532 thousand women.

The program has been so successful that it was implemented in Honduras and is currently being adopted by the municipalities of Escuintla, Masagua, La Gomera, La Democracia, Tiquisate in the department of Escuintla, as well as in San Lorenzo and San Jose el idolo, in Suchitepequez.

During these 32 years, the Sugar Foundation has provided training to thousands of people and has contributed to the development and well-being of the communities with comprehensive community development plans and the preparation of technical projects for the construction of drinking water systems. and drains.

Fundazucar has also facilitated access to health for thousands of people through specialized clinics located in Escuintla.

Thanks to the commitment and effort of the team of social managers who bring training and development to remote communities on the South of Guatemala, Fundazucar has positioned itself as an example and benchmark in community development projects at a national and international level.

We congratulate Fundazucar on its 32nd anniversary and the leaders who had the vision to create the social arm of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry.

9 June, 202223 June, 2022

Sugar producers from Central America launch campaign to prevent child labor

The Sugar Producers of the Central American Isthmus Association (AICA) and the sugar organizations of the six countries in the region launched the campaign “Yo te cuido!” (I take care of you!) with the aim of cont raising awareness about the importance of preventing child labor in the sector.

“In Guatemala we promote the Better Families program to eradicate Child Labor and promote actions from the family so that children attend school and have a life full of joy and learning,” said Maria Silvia Pineda, director of the Guatemalan Sugar Foundation –Fundazucar-.

Through workshops, talks, coordination meetings, contests and multiple information materials, the campaign aims to reach, among others, workers, sugarcane producers, as well as members of the communities in the areas of influence of the sugar sector throughout the Central American region.

The campaign will provide information about child labor, the negative causes and effects, the legal consequences, also with data and promoting a paradigm based on respect and care for childhood and adolescence.

According to Juan Carlos Fernandez, Executive Director of AICA, “the sugar sector has implemented multiple and successful programs and initiatives against child labor throughout Central America for several years, with which it has managed to change the reality of the sector. This campaign advances in the consolidation of the results that have been obtained”.

Promoter Associations

This 2022 child labor prevention campaign is promoted by the Sugar Producers of the Central American Isthmus Association (AICA) and its member organizations: the Guatemalan Sugar Producers Association (Asazgua), the Sugar Association of El Salvador, the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (APAH), the National Committee of Sugar Producers of Nicaragua (CNPA), the Industrial Agricultural League of Sugar Cane of Costa Rica (LAICA) and the Association of Sugar and Alcohol of Panama (AZUCALPA)

In addition, it has the technical support of the International Labor Organization (ILO), as well as the collaboration of the Coca-Cola Company and the Central American Integration Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (INTEGRARSE).