EXPANSION OF CANE SUGAR IN SOUTHWEST MICROREGION GOIÁS: SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE LAND USE AND COVER CHANGE IN THE YEARS 2001, 2006 AND 2011 - DOI 10.5216/bgg.v34i3.33860

Abstract

The worldwide interest in reducing dependence on fossil fuels and diversify the energy matrix to mitigate global warming, has attracted attention to bio fuels, especially ethanol from sugar cane, which promoting strongly expansion of sugar cane cultivation area and increase of number of mills, concentrated on Cerrado region, particularly on Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul states. To face the growing demand for ethanol it is necessary to increase the production of sugar cane as much as the increase of the cultivated area as well as increasing the productivity. The southwestern Goiás (SW) is dominated by agribusiness, especially for meat - grains chain activities which, during the last decades, were practically absolute in defining the spatial dynamics in this region. The objective was to analyze the conversion of the use and land occupation for sugar cane in the SW of Goiás, in the years 2001, 2006 and 2011. Of all the area cultivated with sugarcane in the region in 2011, 55%, 28% and 17% occurred in areas where, in 2006, were occupied with agriculture activity, grassland and savanna, respectively. Thus, the areas of agriculture represent more than half of all the areas replaced by sugar cane SW of Goiás in 2011, showing a preference for agricultural areas, due to agronomic advantages compared to grazing
areas.

Key words: sugar cane, crop substitution, remote sensing, southwest of Goiás.