Thanks to an agreement with Corpoica, the panela agribusiness has alternatives to reduce phytosanitary risks and increase productivity.
La Hoya del Río Suárez is the most important geographical area in panela productivity. It is located between the departments of Boyacá and Santander, where there are about 45,000 hectares of sugar cane.
In this region and with Corpoica, the varieties Cenicaña Colombia CC 93-7711, CC 93-7510 and CC 01-1940 want to gain ground from the traditional RD 75-11, in about 30,000 planted hectares.
The process has been slow, but it is on the right track. According to Corpoica, there are more than 1000 hectares to be used as commercial seedbeds with new varieties for crop renewal.
But that is only in the Hoya del Río Suárez. The varieties of bread production from Antioquia, Tolima, Huila, Cundinamarca, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Meta and Nariño include the varieties CC 84-75, CC 85-92, CC 85-47 and CC 85-57.
The presence of these varieties in these departments and in the Hoya del Río Suárez is no coincidence. Since the 90s, there has been an agreement between Corpoica and Cenicaña that has practically become one of the main social contributions of the cane agroindustry for the production of sugar and ethanol to its similar panela producer.
“Between the two agro-industries there are several technical aspects that are shared. The main contributions of Cenicaña have been the delivery of new varieties to be evaluated in the panelero sector, the technical support in the evaluation of materials in the Hoya del Río Suárez, the joint work for the control of Hormiga Loca, the technical cooperation in methodologies species identification Diatraea and its control and training for producers, technicians and researchers in issues related to the management of the crop and the processing of sugarcane, "says Corpoica.
More recently, these two entities have been joined by ICA and Fedepanela to work on the structuring of a strategic plan to increase the adoption of new varieties in the panela sector, especially due to the phytosanitary risk in which it is due to the susceptibility of the RD 75-11 variety with orange rust.
One of the goals set out under this plan is to increase the cultivated area of these new alternatives in the next four years.
To achieve this they have another contribution from Cenicaña in their hands: the system of healthy seed production from individually extracted buds. This system was incorporated and adjusted by Corpoica in its National Seed Plan with the purpose of strengthening the seed supply of the associations of small panelero producers.
The results of the varieties
- CC 93-7711: 144 TCH and 14.6 tons of panela per hectare (TPH) in commercial milling test. The variety exceeded RD 18-2.5 by 75 TCH and 11 TPH.
- CC 93-7510: 146 TCH and 14.3 TPH in commercial milling test. Outperformed RD 75-11 by 20.2 TCH and 2.2 TPH.
Last May, ICA and Fedepanela made a visit with panela growers from different regions to Cenicaña. 
