Man cutting sugar cane with panga (machete) in plantation which has been burnt, near Pongola. Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Burning is a controversial practise because of the harmful impact it has on local communities and the contribution it makes to greenhouse gas emissions. Farmers burn sugarcane crops before harvest to remove the leaves and tops of the sugarcane plant leaving only the sugar-bearing stalk to be harvested.