activities in the eastern region of Thailand (Fig. 1) during the 2007
cropping year. In this region, the average sugarcane cultivation area
during 2003e2007 was 66,573 ha, or about 6% of the total sugarcane
planting area in Thailand. There are five sugar mills in this
region, four mills are located in the Chonburi province with the
other one being located in the Srakaew province (Fig. 1). The five
sugar mills in eastern Thailand accounted for 3.3 million tones of
cane processed annually (Department of Agriculture, 2004; OCSB,
2007).
Followings are the cultivation practices commonly applied to
the sugarcane field in this region, which served as the basis for
estimating CFP in this study. Sugarcane is planted in March and the
harvest takes place the January of the following year. Three types of
plowing are carried out (chisel plow, deep rip and strip tillage,
respectively). Organic fertilizer (filter cake: sugarcane waste from
sugar production) and manure is usually applied before the first
plowing. Chemical fertilizer is applied only once as a composite
fertilizer and urea. In addition, in case irrigation water is needed, it
is usually pumped from nearby ponds just prior to planting time.
Herbicide and insecticide are applied three times per crop to
control weeds and insects