Agricultural Research at a Public University in Pernambuco

The Carpina Sugarcane Experimental Station (EECAC) is located in the municipality of Carpina, Mata Setentrional, at an average altitude of 180m, 56 km from Recife (capital of the state of Pernambuco) and covers 261.9 hectares. The research carried out at EECAC is aimed at creating production methods and practices and generating new varieties of the plant through genetic improvement. In 1990, EECAC came under the control of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), a century-old educational institution that initially focused on courses in the agricultural sciences and later diversified into other areas. It currently has more than 50 undergraduate courses and more than 30 postgraduate programs. When the Brazilian government abolished PLANALSUCAR, until then the body responsible for research into the development of sugarcane activity in the country, UFRPE absorbed both the structure and the body of researchers and technicians left over from the abolished body. EECAC's main objective is to study the genetic improvement of sugarcane, carried out through the asexual reproduction of different species.