The Top Cana Project is in its second year of implementation in Brazil and won the Bonsucro Inspire Award award for having consolidated a successful model of continual sustainable improvement across the sugarcane sector.
The Bonsucro Inspire Award is awarded to an organisation, partnership or individual in recognition of their exemplary and transformative contributions to the sustainable sugarcane sector. The Top Cana Project was recognised for its innovative use of a digital platform to scale up the adoption of good agricultural and management practices across the entire supply chain.
The winning project has a large focus on the transfer of knowledge, including technical assistance, and provides free training to rural producers and their families on farm management. The project has also embraced the use of social media as a means for producers to ask questions and share best practices.
Monique Vanni, Solidaridad Programme Manager in Brazil, says: "By using a digital platform to collect data and generate mechanisms for continual improvement, not only can we support producers in the field, but also build a platform where supply chain stakeholders can meet to exchange and align ideas.”
There are a lot of people in the field, but nobody talks. Through this platform, people can share information and tasks. And as a result, the strategy can become collective and the process more dynamic.
Pictured above: Bruno Rangel (Socicana), Monique Vanni (Solidaridad), Celso Albano (Orplana)
Speaking at the Bonsucro Inspire Awards Bruno Rangel, Socicana’s President, said: "It was very important to us, as an association, to win this award. It acknowledges the system we developed, the Rural Horizons platform, and I believe it will help attracting more producers, training them as suppliers and strengthening our association in general.”
By allowing producer associations to apply shared knowledge to their own realities, and adapt their projects accordingly, the project has led to improved soil management and the scaling of good agricultural practices. It has also led to greater take up of technical assistance and other services such as financing.
Bruno said of the award:
It is very important to showcase the Socicana way of producing sugarcane. We have been working on this process in partnership with Solidaridad since 2011 and now we can show the results and benefits. We are very proud of our growers.
