With more than four decades of dedication, investments make production a reference in quality
Venâncio Aires (RS) – When he went to the headquarters of UTC Brasil, in Santa Cruz do Sul (RS), in the last week of January this year, farmer Clério Luis Wollmann, 57, already imagined that he would have a good evaluation for the tobacco produced in his lands. His and his family’s dedication throughout the year generates results. While maintaining the teachings passed on by his father on the property about seven kilometers from the center of Venâncio Aires, he decided to invest in technology to reduce costs, improve the quality of tobacco and thus grow.
It is in Linha Sapé, where for more than four decades Wollmann has been involved in the care of 82,000 tobacco plants planted in 37 hectares. Alongside his wife, parents – who, even the elderly, are interested in helping with the cultivation – and one of the children, who, in addition to turning into income, motivates pride in family production. It all started very early. “I was young and already helped my parents here in the land. It’s been many years of dedication and thanks to tobacco I was able to invest in the property, pay for my children’s education and have a dignified life”, emphasized the UTC’s Integrated Farmer.
With all this time working, Clério decided that experience was not the only determining factor, and to continue with a quality product it was necessary to combine the recognized quality of the soil on his property with technology. And with the purchase of an electric greenhouse and investment in solar energy panels, he saw profitability increase. “We installed the electric stove because we understand that we need to keep up with the evolution of things. We only had conventional ovens. Electric is more practical and safer. If the tobacco grower wants to continue producing, he must evolve and we did that”, he said.
To accommodate the tobacco in the greenhouse, staple technology is used, in which there is no need for sewing and is faster. The structure still has a fully automated drying system. “To produce with quality today, you should invest. In the first few months, the cost of energy was even scary, but since we installed the boards, it’s worth it”, stated Wollmann.
Even with the investment in buying the electric stove, the couple still maintains two old conventional greenhouses, with tobacco dried basically by burning wood and manually controlling the temperature. The objective is, at some point in the production, to combine the modern with the conventional.
Planting – At the same time that he is negotiating the sale of finished tobacco, Wollmann and his wife Lovani are already starting to produce the seedlings that go to the field. A manual work, extremely careful, and which has the technical consultancy of the leaf technician Alex Davi Gregori. “I focus more on taking care of the land and she on the seedlings. The labor is great, practically direct. It means to stop separating dry tobacco and start working with the seedlings for the next harvest. With all this work, the help of the leaf technician is very important and Alex is very helpful, always ready to help us”.
Other cultures – Having tobacco as the flagship of the property, the Wollmann family still has other cultures. For subsistence, it maintains the planting of corn, cassava and beans, in addition to raising cattle, pork and chicken“For us to achieve something, it is through tobacco. The area is small, there is no income to produce on a small property, and that is why we only diversify for our own consumption”, he concludes.
