About to close the 2022, 2023 harvest in the main sugarcane producing region of Brazil, the Center-South, we are faced with numbers, in a way, “frightening” in some aspects, mainly with regard to the productivity of our cane fields, the main raw material of the bioenergetic complex for the production of sugar, ethanol and bioelectricity.

Data from the Ten-Year Energy Expansion Plan 2032 by the Energy Research Company, linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, show that the country should harvest, in the current season, something like 583 million tons of sugarcane, in an area territory of around 8.2 million hectares and an average productivity of 71 tons of sugarcane per hectare.

Also considering a projection for the next 10 years, which makes ethanol production jump from 31 billion liters (2022 figures projected by the Ten Year Energy Expansion Plan) to 47 billion liters in 2032, we see the importance of a an increasingly pressing agenda that is based on the vertical growth of our sector, with increased productivity combined with more and more investments in new technologies and production systems.

For more than a decade, I have been defending, even exhaustively, that we need a public policy, and private funding, so that our research institutes are stimulated to work more strongly in the production environments, which today are the main bottlenecks of our low productivity. Last December, to quote a recent episode, participating as a guest in the commission responsible for President Lula's governmental transition, I was able to defend, again, to a very select audience, the creation of an Embrapa Cana, an organism that could group the different Embrapas, who are currently researching sugarcane in a decentralized manner.

The then Senator and Ex-Minister of Agriculture, Kátia Abreu, accompanied by the current Minister of Agriculture Carlos Henrique Fávaro , among other authorities, were even surprised by the non-existence of Embrapa Cana, considering the Brazilian protagonism when the subject is ethanol and its contribution, more than recognized, to our energy matrix.

This Embrapa Cana unit, which could even have a physical office supported by the National Bioenergy Union for the union of researchers who already work in sugarcane, and open-air experimental areas, in the National Bioenergy Union associates, with expertise in our sector, could demand research, for example, on topics that are very important and decisive for our segment today, such as the ideal cane spacing; the necessary fertilization for each type of soil and specific variety of sugarcane; mechanized harvesting systems with less impact on soil compaction; pest and disease control in the new system where the straw is deposited in the field; to name just a few.

What we have today are excellent research institutes that are dedicated to offering us the best sugarcane varieties, increasingly resistant to some factors, such as adverse weather, water stress, disease pests, among others, but we have nothing, or almost nothing, when the theme turns to differentiated production systems.

It is worth highlighting, for example, the great hope cherished by our entire sector in the launch of Sugarcane Seeds, currently studied by the Sugarcane Technology Center, which can represent enormous gains for the achievement of our objectives, but which, in our understanding, needs to be accelerated in order to solve another important bottleneck.

Embrapa Cana, as I have been defending, and even placing our National Bioenergy Union as a supporter in whatever is necessary for its implementation, could mean an essential lever for this increase in production, estimated by the Energy Research Company at more than 50% in the next 10 years.

In parallel with these efforts, which, as I said earlier, demand public policies and incentives for the private sector to embark on this path, we continue to take great steps forward in the production of corn ethanol and lignocellulosic ethanol, the well-known second-generation ethanol.

Still with data from the 2032 Ten-Year Energy Expansion Plan, we see the projection of the Energy Research Company for the offer in 10 years, of the current 4.4 billion liters of corn ethanol (according to data from the National Ethanol Union, of Corn) to 9.1 billion liters from the cereal, in addition to the use of sugarcane bagasse and straw to produce another 560 million liters of cellulosic ethanol in a decade.

All this is also justified when we see the projections of the Ministry of Mines and Energy that ethanol can increase its participation in the Otto cycle from the current 44% (2022) to 55% (2032).

If we add to this equation the demand for ethanol for its effective participation in the flex-fuel hybrid motorization route, as a solution for the most effective electrification process today, we see how much our sector really demands research and technologies that promote our growth, not only horizontally, in the expansion of cultivated areas, but mainly in vertical growth, with productivity gains that will translate into increased competitiveness.

For the cycle to close, still, and not least, we have the environmental footprint, increasingly in vogue today with the adoption of environmental, social and corporate governance practices, very present throughout the bioenergy chain. We are certainly the best energy alternative in the short term for sustainable mobility, and the world has already paid attention to this, which is proven by the increase in production and public policies for ethanol in almost all continents, notably in Asia (with China and Japan with regulatory mixes); in Europe (with the Renewable Energy Directive); in the United States (with the Renewable Fuel Standard); and, more recently, with India increasing its blend of ethanol in gasoline to 20%.

Thinking about giving greater visibility to this very important aspect of the equation that makes our ethanol environmentally correct, socially fair and economically viable, the National Union of Bioenergy created, in 2021, the National Union of Bioenergy Award, Embrapa of Good Environmental Practices and, in 2022, the National Union of Bioenergy Seal of Good Environmental Practices, recognizing the day-to-day sustainability work of our associates.

I close these brief reflections with an optimistic tone, which I have adopted throughout my career spanning more than 50 years, completed with sugarcane work last January, paraphrasing Miguel de Cervantes, in Don Quixote, “When you dream alone, it's just a dream. When we dream together is the beginning of reality". I am hopeful that, with everyone's efforts, we will be able to advance one more step towards the sustainability of our planet.