According to data of the harvest 2015/2016, cultivation of the leaf yielded R $ 5.2 billion to the producers of the region
With more than 98% of production concentrated in the South, tobacco is in many municipalities the driving force behind development. This is the case of Canguçu, in Rio Grande do Sul, which in the last harvest was the leader in the ranking of the largest tobacco producers, followed by São Lourenço do Sul and Venâncio Aires – which for many years was considered the largest tobacco producer in Brazil According to data from the Association of Tobacco Growers of Brazil (Afubra).
Currently, the culture is present in 574 of the 1,191 municipalities of the region, involving more than 144 thousand families. According to data from the 2015/2016 harvest, the 293 thousand hectares planted yielded 539 thousand tons produced and R $ 5.2 billion to producers. For the president of the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco), Iro Schünke, Tobacco is a fundamental culture in social and economic aspects. “Tobacco continues to be a reference for quality of life and income for family farming, and the quality of the product continues to be recognized by importers,” he says.
Rio Grande do Sul has seven of the ten largest tobacco producers in Brazil: Canguçu, São Lourenço do Sul, Venâncio Aires, Santa Cruz do Sul, Candelária, Camaquã and Vale do Sol. Together, these municipalities account for 16% of the total produced In the South Brazil, with 87,164 tons. In all, 236 municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul grow tobacco and the State accounts for more than half of Brazilian production.
Santa Catarina appears in the ranking with the cities of Canoinhas (4th) and Itaiópolis (6th). More than 70% of the municipalities of Santa Catarina produce tobacco. Besides Canoinha and Itaiópolis, Santa Terezinha, Irineópolis, Bela Vista do Toldo, Mafra, Papanduva, Vidal Ramos, Ituporanga and Içara are among the biggest producers in the last harvest. Rio Azul, in Paraná, was in 10th place. Other 130 municipalities of Paraná cultivated tobacco in the last harvest, with special mention also for São João do Triunfo, Prudentópolis, Ipiranga, Irati, Imbituva, Palmeira, Guamiranga, Piên and Ivaí.
Around 90% of the production is exported to 90 countries, placing Brazil in the first position in the world export ranking since 1993 and generating an intense logistic movement, as well as thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Belgium, China and the United States are among the main destinations of the product.
Source: amanha.com.br
