Beyond a few sweet bites

The world loves sugar which, with wheat, rice and maize, accounts for half of global primary crop production. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates world sugar production in 2021-22 at 173.7 million tonnes — in 2000, only 49 million tonnes were produced globally. Compare this to

USDA

estimates of a massive staple like rice at 510 million tonnes of global production.



Traversing a richly complex history, sugar has changed from being a special indulgence to becoming a part of our daily consumption worldwide. While the US consumes the most sugar per capita, FAO estimates China and India will drive the world’s future sugar rush. However, although sugar is sweet on the palate, its environmental impacts produce the opposite taste.

WWF

estimates that 15 countries devote over 25% of their land area to sugarcane cultivation, clearing vast biodiversity-rich habitat, from tropical rainforests to seasonal groves, for this.



Sugarcane is also heavily water-intensive — studies find in Maharashtra, it can take up 60% of irrigation supply and impacts groundwater as well. In some sites, the water table has dropped from 15 metres to 65 metres in the last 20 years. Alongside, sugar impacts human health — the World Economic Forum finds diabetes, driven by a rise in sugar-rich diets, caused over four million losses of life globally in 2020.



While WHO finds diabetes quadrupling globally since 1980, the WEF terms this ‘a silent epidemic’, nearly thrice as deadly as Covid-19. It is no surprise that the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (

SDG

) 3 — ensuring good health and well-being — includes diabetes as a major cause of concern. Importantly, sugar, which employs millions, can be made far more beneficial.

As Times Evoke’s global experts emphasise, using sugarcane for biofuels can reduce both emissions and ill-health. Farming improvements make a difference — studies find in Mexico, by using water recycling, sugar’s water consumption fell by 94% while Tamil Nadu saw a 66% rise in water use efficiency by flooding alternate furrows. The trajectory of sugar can be turned towards suiting both Earth and humanity. Join

Times Evoke

in learning about making sweetness sustainable beyond a few fleeting bites.

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