The State of São Paulo alone accounts for over 50% of the total
area (96,166 km2) used for sugar cane plantation in Brazil (IBGE,
2013). To facilitate the manual harvest of the sugar cane, the
outer leaves are burnt, leading to large emissions of gases and
particulate matter to the atmosphere (Da Rocha et al., 2005).
Mechanized harvesting in São Paulo State (which does not require
the use of fire) reached about 65% in the 2011/2012 season, and the
State goal is to end all manual harvesting by 2017. For this reason,
atmospheric emissions in the “sugar cane belt” of São Paulo State
are going through intense modifications, with unknown environmental
consequences. Another source of biomass burning in the
region is that of sugar cane bagasse (the solid crushed cane residue),
which returns to the production process as an energy source.
The excess bagasse produced by the sugar/alcohol sector is used to
generate electricity, or sold to power other types of industry in the