Small farmers to join Brazil sustainable cane move

By Inae Riveras

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting strict social and environmental standards, the region's cane producers association said late on Thursday.

Several ethanol companies like Cosan and Louis Dreyfus signed deals to produce and export verified sustainable ethanol in the last couple of months to address consumers' concerns over the impact of ethanol which powers almost all the country's new cars.

But now some of the state's small producers in the world's top sugar cane producer will be able to join them.

"We want to have a product with total traceability, from cane seeding to the final product. We believe there's a market for this kind of product, especially in Europe," said Fernando Cesar Gregorio, head of the Bariri Sugarcane Suppliers Association.

The sustainability of Brazil's cane-based ethanol has been called into question by Europe, which is likely to demand stricter environmental and labor standards on imports.

The program will have 50 small and medium-scale cane suppliers who farm up to 3,500 hectares and produce an estimated 260,000 tonnes of cane per year. Some of them are family farmers.

They must refuse the use of child or slave labor, limit their use of agrochemicals, and gather their cane with mechanical harvesters as opposed to cutting it manually. Manual cutting involves burning the plant's foliage, which pollutes the air.

Production standards, which will come into force on August 30, were set by Organizacao Internacional Agropecuaria (OIA), a private company which provides inspection and certification services.