Joshua Rama Samiano

E4M

Sugar is one of the purest natural ingredients on the globe, and it is used in almost
every food category.Each year, over 170 million metric tons of sugar are produced in over 100
countries.Each sugar cane farm has multiple fields in various stages of development to ensure that there
is always cane available to supply the mill. Sugar cane is a slow crop to produce because the process
from planting to harvesting can take up to 18 months. As a result, preparation of the cane prior to
planting is critical. The leaves are cut into 20cm 'tranches' after being removed from the cane. The field
row is then prepared by making incisions in the field that are approximately 15-20cm wide. The cane is
then placed horizontally inside the hole and allowed to grow. The success of sugar production begins
with healthy soil. This is accomplished through the addition of nutrients and a large amount of water.

Because only the top of the plant is removed during harvest, cane sugar does not need to be
replanted. Sugar cane can be harvested in two ways: manually or mechanically.The manual harvesting
process is frequently preceded by the burning of sugar cane fields. This removes all of the leaves,
allowing a team of farmers to manually chop the cane to the ground. This process, however, takes days,
and the burning of the cane leaves causes wildlife and a decrease in the quality of the sucrose in the
cane. Through the VIVE Program, we hope to work with farmers to provide them with the sugar cane
harvester machinery they need to harvest without burning. After manually harvesting the cane, it is
loaded onto a truck and driven to the mill.Cane sugar processing consists of the following steps: sugar
cane is crushed, the juice is heated and filtered, then sent to a series of crystallisation steps to create
crystals of raw sugar, followed by centrifugation to remove any remaining juice or syrup.