Mauritius - an island built on sugar cane

Reading Jo’s post yesterday on her trip to Mauritius reminded me of my last visit there, when I was impressed at what a green island it is. It is, in fact, a veritable inland sea of sugar cane. This important crop covers the fields and the island’s lower hills and comes right down to the coast road in places.

In fact, an incredible 90% of the island’s agricultural land is used for sugar cane, and the crop accounts for 20-25% of export earnings. Sugar cane is harvested on Mauritius from June to September, some by hand and increasingly by machine, and the industry employs some 60,000 workers.

Every aspect of the cane is used. The fronds go to make thatched roofs, like the roof of Beau Rivage Hotel. The leaves are fed to cattle and other animals. The cane is crushed for molasses and also produces vinegar perfume and alcohol. They also use the remains for fuel in bio power stations on the island.

Perhaps the most famous island product also come from the local sugar cane - the fabulous Mauritian Rum. Some of cane even goes to make sugar!

Sugar cane was introduced to Mauritius in the 17th century by Dutch settlers, who largely used the crop to produce arrack, an early form of rum. Subsequent French and British administrations massively developed its production, and sugar cane has become an important part of the island’s culture.

The industry has a dark side to it as well, as it was initially developed using the forced labour of enslaved Africans, and later, after the abolition of slavery in the 1800s, using migrant Indian workers, who worked under harsh conditions for low pay. You can learn much more about the turbulent 400-year history of Mauritian sugar cane at the Sugar Cane Museum, adjacent to Pamplemousses Botanic Garden in Beau Plan in the far north west of the island.

Since the advent of tourism, sugar cane’s dominance of the local economy has gone into relative decline, however. There are some interesting side effects of this. For example, stone from the old sugar cane factory in Bel Ombre has in fact been used to build the spa of the Movenpick Resort.

Many Mauritian people who formerly worked in the sugar industry have also gone into the tourism business and could be driving your Summertimes transfer car, or serving you wonderful local meals with a warm Mauritian smile. So if you’re interested in finding out first hand abouot the island’s rich heritage, just get chatting to the locals and you’ll discover there is much more to Mauritius than meets the eye.

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