Lynne Wong's PhD thesis

CHAPTER 1. EXTRANEOUS MATTER IN CANE
This thesis describes the work undertaken to examine the effect of extraneous matter on
cane, bagasse and juice quality and its impact on milling performance, and subsequently to
study certain chemical properties of sugar cane component parts in an attempt to explain
the effects observed.
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE MAURITIAN SUGAR INDUSTRY
Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean; it covers an area of 1840 km 2 and is situated
880 km off the east coast of Madagascar, near the intersection of latitude 20° South and
longitude 57° East. The climate is sub-tropical with only two seasons: winter prevailing
from May to September and summer from October to April. Mauritius is prone to
cyclones between the months of December and April.
The Dutch took possession of the island, to which they gave the name Mauritius, in 1598.
Sugar cane was introduced in 1639 in Mauritius from Batavia, the Dutch name for Jakarta
of Indonesia. The intent was apparently to produce sugar but, at first, only a spirit known
as “arrack” was produced. Later, the Dutch colonists managed to produce a dark brown
sugar cake, but crystalline sugar was only successfully made in 1694.
The Dutch abandoned Mauritius in 1710. Later, the French took possession of it, and the
production of sugar on a significant scale was encouraged and developed. By 1755,
sufficient sugar was produced to meet the needs of the local inhabitants and its
neighbouring islands. In 1801 cane plantations covered 4220 hectares and 60 mills were
producing 3000 tonnes of sugar (Anon., 1997).
The British captured the island in 1810. It remained under British rule up to 1968 when it
acceded to independence and became a sovereign state within the Commonwealth until
1992, when it became the Republic of Mauritius. Under British rule the cultivation of
sugar cane was encouraged since it is more resistant than other crops to both drought and
cyclones. In 1820, 106 mills were in operation and by 1825 the area under cane cultivation
had reached 10 975 hectares, and the sugar production, 10 870 tonnes (Rouillard, 2001;
Anon., 1997). Since then, the sugar industry has become the major agro-industry, and has
remained so to this day. In 1858, the number of sugar mills in operation reached the record