As in a number of old "sugar islands", the sugarcane knew an important decline in Martinique since the sixties. This one did not stop valorization by the way of the territory, through the label of controlled origin for the rum (AOC, "appellation d'origine contrôlée"), obtained in 1996. In a context of sugar and rum markets dubious, the future of the sugarcane production passes by the reinforcement of the patrimonial dimension of rum Martinique and the valorization of the role of the cane in the identity construction and the territorial development. Beyond the after-effects related to slavery, the role of the sugarcane in the structuring of the society, the economy, the culture, the architectural and landscape heritage, makes of it the element founder of the Martinican territory. To become aware of the multifonctionnality of the sugarcane and its contribution to the durable development of the territory could support the convergence of individual and collective, socio-economic and environmental interests.