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Sugarcane&nbsp;or&nbsp;sugar cane&nbsp;is a species of (often hybrid) tall,&nbsp;perennial&nbsp;grass (in the genus&nbsp;Saccharum, tribe&nbsp;Andropogoneae) that is used for&nbsp;sugar&nbsp;production. The plants are 2&ndash;6 m (6&ndash;20&nbsp;ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in&nbsp;sucrose,&nbsp;which accumulates in the&nbsp;stalk internodes. Sugarcanes belong to the grass family,&nbsp;Poaceae, an economically important&nbsp;flowering plant&nbsp;family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and&nbsp;sorghum, and many&nbsp;forage&nbsp;crops. It is native to the warm temperate and tropical regions of India, Southeast Asia, and&nbsp;New Guinea. Grown in tropical and subtropical regions, sugarcane is the world&#39;s largest crop by production quantity, totaling 1.9&nbsp;billion&nbsp;tonnes&nbsp;in 2020, with Brazil accounting for 40% of the world total. Sugarcane accounts for 79% of sugar produced globally (most of the rest is made from&nbsp;sugar beets). About 70% of the sugar produced comes from&nbsp;Saccharum officinarum&nbsp;and its hybrids.All sugarcane species can&nbsp;interbreed, and the major commercial&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivar">c</a>ultivars&nbsp;are complex&nbsp;hybrids.

Sucrose (table sugar) is extracted from sugarcane in specialized mill factories. It is consumed directly in confectionery, used to sweeten beverages, as a preservative in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_preserves">j</a>ams and conserves, as a decorative finish for cakes and&nbsp;p&acirc;tisserie, and as a raw material in the food industry. It can be fermented to produce ethanol, which is used to make alcoholic drinks like&nbsp;falernum,&nbsp;rum, and&nbsp;cacha&ccedil;a, but also to make&nbsp;biofuel. Sugarcane&nbsp;reeds&nbsp;are used to make pens, mats, screens, and thatch. The young, unexpanded&nbsp;flower head&nbsp;of&nbsp;Saccharum edule&nbsp;(duruka) is eaten raw, steamed, or toasted, and prepared in various ways in Southeast Asia, such as certain island communities of Indonesia as well as in&nbsp;Oceanic&nbsp;countries like&nbsp;Fiji.

Sugarcane was an ancient crop of the&nbsp;Austronesian&nbsp;and&nbsp;Papuan people. It was introduced to&nbsp;Polynesia,&nbsp;Island Melanesia, and&nbsp;Madagascar&nbsp;in prehistoric times via Austronesian sailors. It was also introduced to southern China and India by Austronesian traders around 1200 to 1000 BC. The Persians and Greeks encountered the famous &quot;reeds that produce honey without bees&quot; in India between the sixth and fourth centuries BC. They adopted and then spread sugarcane agriculture.&nbsp;Merchants began to trade in sugar, which was considered a luxurious and expensive spice, from India. In the 18th century, sugarcane plantations began in the Caribbean, South American, Indian Ocean, and Pacific island nations. The need for sugar crop laborers became a major driver of large migrations, some people voluntarily accepting&nbsp;indentured servitude&nbsp;and others forcibly imported as&nbsp;slaves.

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