Joel grows tobacco.
With the money he goes shopping at Alessandro
FarmShop, whichgets its supplies at John’s distributioncenter, and soon. It is in this
rhythm that tobacco feeds the economy of the small town of Chuvisca, in the Mid-
South region of RioGrande do Sul.
In thetown,with5.3thousandpeople,thereare1,167familiesinvolvedwithtobac-
co farming, and 2.63 thousand hectares are devoted to this crop. For the curing needs
of this tobacco, 2,220 curingbarns are necessary during the harvest season. The peo-
ple of the town are so involvedwith tobacco that even themayor grows the crop.
Joel Santos Subda, 33, is a tobacco field enthusiast. He cultivates 100 thousand
plants on a 10.5-hectare farm, in the district of Costa da Pitanga, 10.5 kilometers
fromthedowntownarea. “If therewereno tobacco, Chuviscawouldpossibly not ex-
ist. The incomederived fromthecrop isof fundamental importance, either for the lo-
cal government of for private enterprises”, he emphasizes.
According to him, when the crop is not what it should be, the coffers of the mu-
nicipal administration sense the impact. “Everything is interconnected”, he insists.
The bills of the municipality rely on the pillars of the numbers of the 2014/15 and
2015/16 growing seasons. In the former, the farmers in Chuvisca commercialized
the engine
In the city of Chuvisca, inRioGrande do Sul, tobacco
accounts for approximately 95%of themoney that circulates
in the local economy, and everything comes fromit
6.3 thousand tons of tobacco. In the latter, this
number dropped to 4.2 thousand tons. As a re-
sult, money returns to the municipality reced-
ed R$ 540 thousand. Because of this, the local
government has been encouraging the farmers
to invest in other activities, too. “Tobacco will al-
ways be our vocation, our engine, but we need
to diversify our farms so as not to depend exclu-
sively on tobacco”, says the mayor. “Dairy cattle
is a good option, for example”.
At the farm shop of Alessandro de Olivei-
ra, 44, tobacco farming is what leads the busi-
ness, too. It is what sells themost, either for gen-
erating more comfort to those who produce, or
farmers in search of the final quality of the prod-
uct”, he explains. He alsomentions that the pos-
itive side of tobacco is that the money ends up
circulating in themunicipality itself.
Alessandro’s opinion is endorsed by João Ven-
zke, owner of theonly gas station located in theur-
ban area in Chuvisca. “If it were not for tobacco,
this gas station would not even be necessary. In
the case of diesel fuel, for example, one can sense
a direct impact at planting time, when tractors are
used, and also at harvest, when trucks transport
tobacco. Trafficgetsbusier”, he confirms.
CHUVISCA
– The city with 5.3 thousand peo-
ple is located near Camaquã, on the surround-
ings of the Patos Lake. Chuvisca is determined to
invest indairy farmsover thecomingyears.
When tobacco is
Cássio Filter
The result of
every crop reflects
on the public
finances and works
87
Joel Santos Subda,
produtor e prefeito de Chuvisca
TABACO EMCHUVISCA
Área Colhida
4,2mil hectares
Quantidade produzida
8,57mil toneladas
Rendimentomédio
2 toneladas/hectares
Valor da produção
R$ 74,1milhões
Fonte: InstitutoBrasileirodeGeografiaeEstatística(IBGE).
TOBACCO IN CHUVISCA
Cultivated area
4.2 thousandhectares
Amount produced
8.57 thousand tons
Average performance
2 tons/hectare
Value of the production
R$ 74.1million
Source:Brazilian InstituteofGeographyandStatistics(IBGE).
