Potential incomes and sustainable agriculture from the brown sugarcane production

Abstract

Brown sugar produced from sugarcane is a promising business for small-scale farmers, which can create employment, improve farmers’ incomes, and contribute to land conservation with the use of appropriate technology. The potential is explored through the utilization of marginal land to cultivate sugarcane and to create value-added from producing brown sugarcane. By using a case study in Wajo District, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, the results show that the investment value of brown sugar processing unit is varied between IDR 75 and 750 million with milling capacity 7-50 TCD (tons of cane day) or equivalent to IDR 3-5 million per hectare and sugarcane plantation investment IDR 4-7 million per hectare. Additionally, sugarcane farming is able to create two job opportunities per hectare, one person in the plantation and one person in the processing unit. The gross value of brown sugar production is around IDR 42-90 million/hectare, with a 10 percent brown sugarcane conversion factor and 60-90 tons of cane per hectare.