research Archives - Sugarcane Industry

9 May, 2022

Cengicaña celebrates 30 years of contributing to the development of the country

Cengicana 30 anniversary - Azúcar de Guatemala

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Guatemalan Center for Research and Training of Sugar Cane -Cengicaña-, a union organization that with its work has contributed to the growth, development, and competitiveness of the Sugar Industry.

With a long-term vision, Cengicaña was founded in 1992 by the member sugar mills of the Guatemalan Sugar Producers Association -Asazgua-, as a research center that generates knowledge and technology transfer for the agricultural and industrial equipment of the associated mills.

Cengicaña supports the sustainable and profitable development of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry through five programs:

Variety development
Integrated pest management
Agronomy
Industrial research and,
training and transfer

In these 30 years, Cengicaña has developed 33 Guatemalan sugarcane varieties that have higher yields, are more resistant to diseases and are also adaptable to the varied environmental conditions of the Guatemalan sugarcane zone. These varieties developed by Guatemalan experts currently occupy 60% of the cultivated area under management. The CG02-163 variety ranks first in extension and yield.

Technologies and methodologies have also been developed for the Integrated Management of Pests that attack sugarcane cultivation, such as the Salivosa Bug, Borer and Rodents, among others.

Through the agronomy program, the use of technologies for plant fertilization and nutrition, irrigation and precision agriculture is developed and exploited using data, maps and satellite images to analyze soil types, water balance, agroecological zones for strategic location of varieties, fertility and productivity analysis, as well as pest mapping.

Experts from Cengicaña developed CengiRiegos, an application that uses information to apply to the crop only the amount of water it needs, which has made it possible to optimize the use of water and costs for irrigation. Currently, this application is used in 35% of the cultivated area with efficient irrigation systems.

Cengicaña has also innovated in industrial research to achieve a reduction in the loss of sucrose and to obtain efficiency in the generation of renewable energy, a factor that has supported the Guatemalan Sugar Industry to generate up to 30% of the country’s electricity demand.

The training and transfer program has had more than 5,500 training events with which it has reached more than 137,000 employees of the Sugar Industry. In addition, it has developed events to share the technology developed with the sugar mills through symposiums, specialized committees and technical events with field trips and participation in congresses.

With this 30-year work, Cengicaña has received important recognitions such as the Ulises Rojas Order, the Sugar Order and recognitions from universities, among others.

We congratulate Cengicaña for its 30th anniversary and the leaders who had the vision to anticipate the challenges to seek the competitiveness and sustainability of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry.

15 February, 2022

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry reuses waste as organic fertilizer to conserve soil

The Guatemala Sugar Industry has relied on research and science to be more environmentally sustainable for the planting and harvesting of sugarcane. An example of this is the development and implementation of practices for the conservation and sustainable use of soil.

Since 2012, the Sugar Industry has worked hand in hand with the Guatemalan Center for Research and Training of Sugar Cane -Cengicaña- and the Private Institute for Research on Climate Change -ICC- on practices to stop or prevent erosion, conserve soil, and improve their fertility and productivity.

Reuse of waste as organic fertilizer

During the production of sugar, significant amounts of organic waste are generated as byproducts that have a high agronomic value, including filter mud, ash, and vinasse. Cengicaña scientists discovered that applying these byproducts to the soil improves its physical, chemical, and biological properties.

For example, filter mud is a residue from the manufacture of sugar and provides phosphorus, calcium, and nitrogen, among others. It is estimated that each harvest produces more than 750,000 tons of this residue that is used to nourish fields.

Vinasse is a liquid residue from the distillation of alcohol and is mainly made up of water, organic matter and minerals that benefit the soil. Just as ash, mixed with filter mud, is beneficial for acidic soils, which favors greater availability of nutrients for plants and generally improves soil health.

Green fertilizer program

Just as they use organic fertilizers, the Sugar Industry also uses green fertilizers, an ecological measure of planting legume plants that provide the soil with nitrogen for nutrition in an ecological and environmentally friendly way.

When legumes are mixed with the soil, they provide organic matter that improves the texture and structure of the soil and promotes the development of microorganisms that are beneficial to crops.

All these good practices are promoted by Cengicaña with the aim of comprehensively using biological and organic elements that are sustainable with the environment for the cultivation of sugarcane.

27 April, 2021

Cengicaña celebrates 29 years of supporting the technological advance of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry

In 1992, the Guatemalan Sugar Industry made the decision to create a specialized center for sugar cane research. This is how the Guatemalan Center for Research and Training of Sugar Cane -Cengicaña- was born, which today celebrates 29 years of working to support the technological advance of the Sugar Industry.

Research on sugar addresses many topics which are grouped into five programs: varieties, integrated pest management, agronomy, industrial research, and training and transfer.

Climate change and technology

Cengicaña has developed cane varieties that contain more sugar and are more resistant to diseases. In addition, they are adaptable to the varied environmental conditions of the Guatemalan sugar cane zone. Cengicaña scientists have a National Collection made up of 3,085 varieties of cane, which is used for crosses and studies of the plant.

In the case of the Integrated Pest Management program, Cengicaña scientists combat sugarcane pests with biology, by looking for natural enemies of fungi and bacteria, and even owls and hawks.

Cengicaña scientists rely on technological tools for research on plant fertilization and nutrition, irrigation, precision agriculture, among others. In the area of precision agriculture, satellite images from the European Space Agency and NASA are used to monitor humidity and determine the maturity of the cane for harvest. In addition, in irrigation, the development of the app Cengiriego to optimize the use of irrigation water in sugar cane stands out.

Renewable energy production

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry is a world benchmark for the generation of renewable energy from sugarcane bagasse, a residue of sugar production. Cengicaña’s industrial research program has helped the sugar mills increase their power generation.

This has been a key factor in ensuring that the Sugar Industry generates up to 35% of the Guatemala’s electricity demand. In addition, with the renewable energy produced by the sugar mills, up to 4 million tons of CO2 is prevented from reaching the environment.

On this day we congratulate the scientists of Cengicaña who with their work help to make the Guatemalan Sugar Industry a sustainable sector.

15 March, 2021

For the first time a Guatemalan variety of sugarcane leads the Guatemalan Sugar Industry

Sugarcane is researched by dedicated scientists at the Guatemalan Center for Research and Training of Sugar Cane -Cengicaña-; created with the aim of improving production and productivity of sugarcane and its byproducts.

Cengicaña published its Annual Report 2019-2020, in which the results of the investigations, projects and activities that were carried out in the last year are presented. One of the relevant results is that the varietal composition of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry is now led by a Guatemalan variety.

The CG02-163 variety is now the one with the most planted area in Guatemala, after 18 years of being released by Cengicaña, relegating the CP72-2086 variety from Florida, United States to second place. It is expected that over the years the varieties developed by Cengicaña will relegate foreign varieties in the varietal composition of national cane.

The annual report can be downloaded in Spanish on the Cengicaña website: https://cengicana.org/publicaciones# .

The Variety Program contributes to increasing the Guatemalan Sugar Industry productivity through the development of new varieties of sugarcane. These varieties are of high sugar yield per unit area, resistant to diseases and with agro-industrial characteristics and adequate adaptability to the different environmental conditions of the Guatemalan sugarcane zone.

10 February, 202125 March, 2021

Green fertilizer for environmental sustainability

The Guatemalan Sugar Industry maintains its commitment to environmental sustainability, so through the Guatemalan Sugarcane Research and Training Center -Cengicaña-, have implemented the green fertilizer program.

Green fertilizer is part of the healthy soil program that some sugar mills have. This ecological measure consists of planting legumes that provide nitrogen to the soil reducing the use of commercial products.

In addition, it integrates crop rotation, intercropping, pest management, and soil conservation and nutrition in an environmentally friendly way.

Legumes and crop rotation

Legumes at Ingenio La Union — Photo courtesy of: Ingenio La Union

The cultivation of legumes as green fertilizer is a frequent practice in agriculture, in the case of the Guatemalan Sugar Industry crotalaria, a legume that produces a yellow flower, is used. Crotalaria is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae (subfamily Faboideae) commonly known as rattlepods.

Sugarcane cultivation is renewed every 5 years to maintain its yield and in the ideal areas, this renewal is used to nourish the soil with leguminous plants which grow and remain in the field between 6 and 8 months. Approximately 3 thousand hectares have been planted with crotalaria.

Legumes incorporate organic matter into the soil that provides nutrients, mainly nitrogen, one of the most important for plants and that will be used by subsequent crops.

Soil conservation and pest management

Legumes are the only group of plants that can capture nitrogen from the air and incorporate it into their organism. When they are mixed with the soil, they contribute organic matter that improves the texture and structure of the soil. In addition, it promotes the proliferation of microorganisms that are beneficial for crops.

Crop rotation also helps in pest control because, by exchanging the cane for legumes, the life cycle of the insects that feed on the sugar cane is broken.

All these good practices are promoted by Cengicaña with the aim of integrally using biological elements that are sustainable with the environment for the cultivation of sugar cane.