Strategies for the Sustainability of Cane Agroindustry and Development of Green Agribusiness for Well-Being

Sugarcane is one of the main crops in the world as a source of food and energy. It is located as agroindustry in more than 130 countries worldwide. The main product obtained from its processing is sucrose, as granulated sugar of different qualities, which has a story that began from the spices route as a luxury article until today with marginal integration of agroindustry into the Agriculture 4.0 and Industry 4.0 with the production of bioethanol and energy by cogeneration. As a comprehensive production process, all the stages of growing, management, harvesting, and transportation of cane stalks with unit operations in sugar mills, trapiches (artisanal sugar mills), distilleries, and biorefineries, without sustainable practices, impact ecosystems, the well-being of growers and human health; besides generate greenhouse gases, consume high amounts of energy fossil and agrochemicals. Concerning the byproducts (molasses, filter mud, vinases, ashes, bagasse, and trash), are minimally processed or confined in landfills or the environment as waste. Although there are a large number of technological proposals and sustainable development research for their conversion to bioproducts, this agribusiness maintains, in most regions, the cane-sugar mono-production which is highly unsustainable. The purpose of this work was to analyze the challenges, constraints, public policy options, and the application of transdisciplinary frameworks for incorporation in sugarcane agribusiness for the sustainable production of raw material, valorization of byproducts, development of new value chains, and generate well-being for stakeholders based on the objectives of sustainable development.