Mexico ranks sixth in sugarcane production worldwide
The 2023 Sedex Sustainability Awards recognize the power of collaboration, partnerships, and community to address environmental, social, and governance challenges. The “Community and Collaboration” category recognizes programmes that collaboratively present solutions to address these challenges.
The MAS-CAÑA II programme aims to improve sugarcane smallholders’ sustainability, resilience, and productivity, and that’s why we were considered for this award. In Mexico, the sugarcane agroindustry is a prominent economic activity with the country ranking sixth among producing countries. It’s the main source of income for close to 440,000 people and indirectly benefits more than 2.2 million.
MAS-CAÑA II, collaborating to increase the resilience of small cane producers
Through a collaboration agreement in October 2021, Bayer, Solidaridad-PanameriCaña, and Grupo Pantaleon announced the start of MAS-CAÑA II. The programme brings all actors in the sugar value chain together in collaboration to train smallholder farmers and generate solutions based on good agricultural practices.
Currently, MAS-CAÑA II is focused on improving agricultural practices with 3,672 sugarcane smallholders of the Panuco Sugar Mill in Mexico. The programme goes hand in hand with the 8th Sustainable Development Goal that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all. Thanks to the established agreement, we developed:
- Socioeconomic Study to understand the characteristics of this broad group of producers. Thus, it was possible to obtain valuable information to create strategies, initiatives, and support programmes for smallholders.
- Diploma Programme for Technicians and Producers where we cover topics on management and agricultural practices. This initiative will support knowledge replication to more smallholders.
- On-site training in the field, demonstration plots, and exchange of good practices between smallholders and technicians from Ingenio Panuco.
Change that matters
The MAS-CAÑA programme has been widely recognized before. Last year it was a finalist for the 2022 Bonsucro Inspire Awards. The awards recognize the exceptional contributions made in collaboration with strategic allies to accelerate the production and sustainable use of sugarcane.
“Before, I planted sugarcane without any advice and hoped for the best. Climate change and droughts have affected us a lot. Now, thanks to the training received by Solidaridad, I have improved my productivity and with that I will be able to improve my house and have savings.”
Luis Antonio González Flores, sugarcane smallholder
Working together for a sustainable value chain!
Collaboration with partners has allowed us to share technology, knowledge, and good practices to help smallholders increase their productivity, raise their income, and improve their quality of life.
“The responsible vision of our partners for their supply chain development has enabled this alliance, which is essential to improve the performance of sugarcane smallholders. We strive to reach more producers in the next 2 years!,” Carlos García, PanameriCaña Regional Program Manager.