Sugarcane carbon sequestration potential under the clean development mechanism :

Abstract

Soils, and managed agricultural soils in particular, represent a potentially Significant low cost sink for greenhouse gases (GHGs) with multiple potential co-benefits to farm productivity and profitability (Jonathan, Ryan and Jeffrey, 2010). The great majority of agronomists and soil scientists agree that most agricultural soils can store more carbon and even a modest increase in carbon stocks across the large land areas used for agriculture would represent a significant GHG mitigation. Sugarcane accompanied with good fanning practices has the potential to sequester considerable amounts of carbon and so contribute to climate change mitigation. However, little has been done to provide relevant information concerning carbon sequestration in crop lands and sugarcane in particular. This research work focuses on finding out the ability of sugarcane to sequester carbon in the soil and involves analyzing four different sugarcane varieties among those grown by Kakira sugar works limited to assess their potential to sequester carbon. It is believed to provide the management of Kakira and other stakeholders the relevant information against which to base decisions for developing CDM projects to mitigate climate change through agriculture. Sugarcane grown in Kakira estates has the potential to sequester carbon between 589.11 to 591.12Tc/ha. Therefore, with proper agronomic practices, carbon sequestration in sugarcane is a potential CDM project. Key words: Carbon sequestration, Sugarcane varieties, Soil organic carbon, Phytoliths, Bulk density