I
n 2016, on its own merits, the tobacco supply chain won two important allies: The
ministers of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa), Blairo Maggi, and Civ-
il House of the Presidency, Eliseu Padilha. The support was commemorated by the
leaderships,oncethislevelofcommitmentofgovernmentauthoritieswiththetobac-
co farmers had not been witnessed since the 1970s, when Nestor Jost, native to the
region, wasminister and lent support to tobacco farming. Timesweredifferent, and radi-
cal antismoking campaigns had not yet reached the spheres of government.
Maggi has visited the central region of Rio Grande do Sul twice since he took office
in late April. In one of the visits, on July 20, his exclusive itinerary included the munici-
palities of Venâncio Aires and Santa Cruz do Sul to learn about all the links of the sup-
ply chain. At his visit, he stated: “Tobacco agribusiness has an ally now. I amgoing to de-
fend the growers the way I defend all the other segments of our national agriculture”. At
Ministersof
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ameetingwith the sectoral representatives, Padilhapromisedhis solidarity to tobacco anddeclared that
the sector is a relevant generator of income, jobs and taxes. “InaCountry going througha crisis, it is com-
pletely out of the question to disregard the relevance of this productive segment”, he summarized.
BlairoMaggi was greatly surprised to learn about the difference between the reality of the tobacco crop
andthewaypublicopinionpicturesit.“Irealizedheretheimportanceoftheincomethatisderivedfromthis
crop and the small amount of pesticides it requires. When I decided to come to this region, I imagined that
the tobacco farmers were involvedwith pesticides on a daily basis, but I came across a sector that uses far
lesspesticidesthansoybeanandcotton,cropsthatsometimesrequiretwoapplicationsaweek”,headmits.
Hewas also impressed at the fact that this supply chain is different in that it has achieved a high lev-
el of genetic enhancement and management, thus reducing the need for pesticides. “It is a reference
for Brazilian agriculture”, comments theminister. InMaggi’s view, a suggestion for field reconversion is
something dissociated from reality. “It is amovement backward by society to try to convince the farm-
ers to give up a guaranteed annual income in exchange for something worth 20% of it, and under the
influence of subsidies, a practice that is harmful to agriculture”, he argues. “It is out of the question, let
alone in the economicmoment the Country is experiencing”.
Maggi considers themutual insurance programof the tobacco growers a real “example” and hopes
to use some of these experiences in the formulation of a newagribusiness insurance program. “Tobac-
co could contribute a lot towards the resumption of Brazil’s growth”, he summarizes”, resume.
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RomérioCunha/CasaCivil
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