Reconversión del sistema regional de producción de semilla de caña para la agroindustria panelera en Boyacá y Santander

In Colombia, 474,559 hectares of sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum L. (Poaceae) are cultivated. Of these, 218.000 ha are destined for sugar and ethanol production, and the rest 266,559 ha for panela "non-centrifuged sugar". The main productionarea of panela in Colombia is known as “La Hoya del Rio Suarez” in the departments of Boyaca and Santander, with ca. 42,701 ha. Like other regions, there is a lack of a cane seed production system which ensures the phytosanitary quality and varietal purity of the seeds (stem cuttings) required by the subsector, thus resulting in the spread of insect pests and diseases that permanently limit the yield at harvest. The objective of this study was to revive the local seed cane production system at the hoya del rio Suarez region and for this purpose the process of obtaining germinated plants was established through a bud extraction technique under the Colombian National Seed Plan. The process of obtaining germinated plants by bud extraction was developed in cooperation with the Colombian Sugarcane Research Center (Cenicana), and became the baseline system for production of locally-selected sugarcane seeds for the region. As a result, 200.000 sugarcane seedlings were produced during 2014 and given to small and medium scale producers. Fifteen ha of commercial seedlings were established in order to renovate 10.000 ha with the varieties of sugarcane in the next four years.