Title: SiCAS - Sistema de Caña de Azúcar Sostenible Date: December 15, 2012 Presented by Rena Perez at was presented in Matanzas, Cuba, to a group of approximately 90 persons, agronomists and cane technicians, representing the professionals working in the island’s sugar industry.

1. SiCAS
Sistema de Caña de Azúcar Sostenible

2. Antecedentes del SiCAS . . . el SICA
(Sistema Intensivo de Cultivo Arrocero)
TRADICIONAL
25-35+ días de edad SICA
12-24 h del saque 10-12 días !
3-4 posturas/mota
15-30 minutos !!
10-15 cm
una sola !!!
“J” 3.5-4.0 t
25 x 25 cm
inundado
“ L”
± 50% agua
8-11 t
VN 2084 40x40cm
87 hijos 52 días y 43 hijos

3. CPA “Camilo Cienfuegos”, Bahía Honda,
Artemisa, Cuba
yemas-plantas
sembradas 14 de sept, 2011 (foto 17 de nov)
26 de enero, 2012

4. CPA “Camilo Cienfuegos”, Bahía Honda
17 nov 2011
35 d yemas-
plantas
sembradas
Jan 26 2012
26 ene 2012
14 sep 2011
4 mayo 2012

7. una hectárea de SiCAS en Bahía Honda
8½m
2m 4½m
8m 8½m

8. Ñíco, desde que vio SiCAS pensó en la re-siembra, el 10%:
la cachaza
José Antonio Espinosa (Ñíco)
9 de mayo 2012

9. 9 de mayo, 2012

10. LA RESIEMBRA = + 10% PLANTAS

11. Semilla de caña, t/ha: tradicional vs SiCAS
13 t/ha comparado a . . . .
2 t/ha (0.6 m x 1.4 m e/surcos)

12. 30 de mayo, 2012

13. 30 de mayo, 2012

14. 8½ meses, secano, 25 hijos

15. 1 de augusto 2012 con Fanjul

17. El lunes, 12 de nov, 2012, Ñíco “……una mala noticia…….”

18. Caridad y Nieves Cordero

21. 150 t de caña y faltaban 2 meses !

22. NODOS PESO
# kg
25 3.5
26 4.5
26 5.0
22 4.2
23 4.0
24 3.2
24 4.8
24 4.5
23 4.5
14 4.2
23* 4.2*
*promedio
13 meses sembrada + 6 semanas en bolsas
4.2 x 2.2 = 9.24 lb. x 10% = 0.9 lb azucar!

23. Consideraciones . . . . . .
• Uso mas eficiente del agua
• Mayor aprovechamiento del material genético (2 t vs. 13 t)
• La resiembra forma parte del mismo sistema de siembra
• Inter-nodo para jugo para cerdos (bagazo = energía)
• Aumento en el rendimiento
• Mas mieles
• Cultivos intercalados?

24. Brigada de SiCAS de la CPA “Camilo Cienfuegos”
Dra. Rena Pérez, 12/12
Havana, Cuba
(renasperez@hotmail.com

25. Comments by page for the presentation
“SiCAS - Sistema de Caña de Azúcar Sostenible“
By Rena Pérez
1. First trial in Cuba on SSI was begun in August, 2011, in the “Camilo
Cienfuegos” cane cooperative in Bahia Honda.
2. The author presented this Powerpoint to 90 cane agronomists, 15
months later, in December 2012. This slide compares Cuba’s traditional
rice transplanting system to that of SRI, to help cane agronomists
understand and assimilate the new method of SSI which is patterned
after SICA.
3. Pictures show the SSI Training Manual, the bud-chip plants in the
nursery, and the experimental plot of 0.9 hectares.
4. More pictures of SSI.
5. Two women cut 500 bud-chips daily, plant the buds in polyethylene
bags, and hose-water the entire nursery, also daily.
6. The largest cane plants, approximately 35 days old, are ready to take to
the field.
7. Four pictures of the first hectare of SSI in Cuba. Plants are set out at
0.6m distance within rows x 1.4 m between rows.
8. The president of the coop, Ñico. When he first saw the pictures of SSI
in the Training Manual, he immediately saw SSI techniques as a
solution to “replanting” (the replacement of the approximately 10% of
plants that either die in the field or do not germinate).
9. On May 9th, 2012, I took my camera and drove two hours to Bahia
Honda to follow the workers to the field to capture these images.

26. 10. The workers took two oxen-driven carts, the plants, filter-press
mud, and shovels.
11. The picture on the left is the present planting system requiring 13
t/ha of cane compared to 2 t/ha with SSI.
12. On May 30th, 2012, the author, accompanied by several
functionaries of the sugar industry, visited the “Camilo Cienfuegos”
cane coop, first to visit the nursery and …….
13.-16. ..…..later to visit the experimental plot.
17. On Monday, November 12th, Ñico called with a sad message, that a
deranged individual had set fire to the trial plot of SSI, completely
destroying it. He said that he was sending in a brigade to cut all the
remaining cane in the field the following day.
18.-19. . The author returned the following morning to find this situation
and heard comments from the workers like: “We’ve never seen cane like
this before”…….”if only we had more plots like this, we could make more
money”…….
20. Ten canes were randomly selected and measured: length, weight,
and number of nodes.
21. The head agronomist for the coop calculated that the field would have
produced 150 t of clean cane, ready for the mill, which is practically double
the previous best yields.
22. The average weight of a cane was 9.24 lb. At 10% extraction, that
would represent 0.9 lb of raw sugar.
23. More efficient use of water, with more efficient use of genetic material.
By using SSI for both planting and replanting, it would mean a common
planting system. Inter-nodes can be used for animal feeding. Higher yields.
More molasses. Possibility of producing a fast-growing, secondary
vegetable crop between rows of cane.
24. Recognition of the SSI planting brigade of CPA “Camilo Cienfuegos”