Sugar Cane Industry of Colombia
Smoke rises from the burning plantations.
The sugarcane fields are burned to ease access for the cutters when they start to harvest by hand.
Sugarcane doesn't originate in South America, it was imported from Asia.
The cut canes are ground up to extract the juice.
The cane residue feeds the fire that brings the juice to the boil.
A molasses is obtained that cools in moulds.
It's called panela and is a very important foodstuff in the countryside.
The panela is used for making agua panela, a sort of herbal tea.
And for sweetening the coffee that we drink around here.
Sugarcane is also processed in a much less traditional manner.
Over recent years, industry has taken over sugarcane to exploit all its resources
and diversify production.
Very high yields can be obtained in the factory.
Guillermo Caicedo is an engineer.
This factory was built in the Cauca Valley 86 years ago.
Over the years, it has been modernized.
At the present time, we process on average 9,000 tons of sugarcane a day.
The result, two main products.
Our main products are sugar, which accounts for 80% of production,
and fuel alcohol.
Our fuel production facility opened in 2005.
It has a capacity of 250,000 litres per day.