Erosion and economic valuation of nutritional supplementation in cultivated soil with burned and nonburned sugarcane in Campos dos Goytacazes – RJ

The efficiency of Brazil in the production of sugar and ethanol is unquestionable, however, the challenges still remain for the management of the burning of the straw in the pre-harvest of sugarcane, which has generated negative externalities. Water erosion is one of the most aggressive forms of environmental degradation and which has caused huge losses. This work was carried out in the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil, in order to estimate soil erosion losses in an area planted with sugarcane under two types of crop management. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (EUPS) was used to obtain the erosion rates and the Replacement Cost Method (MCR) to carry out the economic valuation of the ecosystem service.The results show that the rate of soil loss from sugarcane burned was four times greater when compared to the rate for sugarcane harvested raw for both areas studied. The replacement cost of lost nutrients in the cultivation of sugarcane under harvesting system with previous burning was R$6.73 and R$15.91 per hectare of lowland and coastal tableland, respectively, while in the sugarcane harvesting unburned system the cost per hectare was R$ 1.66 for the lowland and R$ 7.56 per hectare for the coastal tableland. It is concluded that the crop management system influences environmentally the preservation of soil fertility and the cost of fertilization of the crop.