Sugarcane

Perennial grass, 2-6 m tall, about 5 cm in diameter. It has stout, jointed fibrous stalks that are rich in sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. Sugarcane accounts for 79% of sugar produced; most of the rest is made from sugar beets.

Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of Southeast Asia and New Guinea. It was an ancient crop of the Austronesian and Papuan people and was introduced to Oceania and Madagascar in prehistoric times (canoe plant). The Persians and Greeks encountered the famous “reeds that produce honey without bees” in India between the 6^th and 4^th centuries BC. They adopted and then spread sugarcane agriculture. Merchants began to trade in sugar, which was considered a luxurious and expensive spice, from India. In the 18^th century AD, sugarcane plantations began in Caribbean, South America, Indian Ocean and Pacific island nations and the need for laborers became a major driver of large migrations of people, some voluntarily accepting indentured servitude (e.g. Indo-Fijians) and others forcibly exported as slaves.

No known.

In Fiji, there is also growing Saccharum edule (duruka, dule), used for its edible inflorescence.