Joining efforts for sustainability
Technology and quality
The CAEI has made significant investments to introduce the most modern technical procedures in biomass production and make planting more efficient from a technological point of view.
These investments have been used for the purchase of agricultural machinery, the production of seedlings, and the maintenance of the planted area. For this reason, the Biomass Department is called upon to become a model for the sector, as it continuously improves the efficiency of its work, reducing production costs and increasing the productivity of the entire company.
Regarding quality, the department has a database of several records to control, analyze, and audit operations in order to guarantee biomass with a high calorific value and low in ash. These investigations are carried out throughout the year and are used to evaluate the potential of the product, the adaptability of the plant, its diameter or survival, among other criteria.
360° plantations
Using a technology that combines drone images, satellite navigation, and GPS, the collaborators of the Biomass Department can locate the Eucalyptus and Leucaena plantations in real time. These images provide critical data for logistics-intensive tasks such as soil preparation and harvesting.
A model plant nursery
In the Nuevo Cayacoa nursery, plants are sown and developed for their later transplantation in the energy farms, but also where the different seeds used in the sowing are stored and studied. In 2019, the nursery was modernized and now has an automated irrigation and fertigation system that guarantees a monthly production of 500 thousand high-quality seedlings per month.
In 2019, the nursery launched a genetic improvement plan to select the best cloning specimens. With this technology, the Biomass Department seeks to increase productivity and improve the quality of the chips. Since the second half of 2020, the department is planting the first clones in the field and plans to use this technology in 80% of its forest plantations.
At the end of 2019, the Nuevo Cayacoa nursery produced more than 2 million sugarcane plants, also guaranteeing the continuity of production and the work of our collaborators, in order to materialize a project that, over the years, the sugarcane research team has been carrying out to produce cane seedlings by bud and cloning, and to improve the quality of the seed for the next renovations in the field.
Eucalyptus seedlings
Seedling: young plant, shortly after sprouting from seed.
Female workforce
Today, the nursery production comes to half a million seedlings per month. This is mostly due to the effort and dedication of its team, made up and led entirely by women. From very early on, they take care of the correct functioning of this space dedicated to the sowing and development of clonal and seed plants produced in our nursery. These collaborators receive regular training on nursery management, which covers topics as broad as seed treatment before planting and the production of seedlings in trays. Currently, 30% of the Biomass Department staff is female.