Cássio Filter
Almost four decades have
gone by since the first tobacco curing
barn was built on the farmof the Roecker family, in the district of Capoeirão, dis-
tant 22 kilometers from the downtown area of the small town of Fortuna, south
of Santa Catarina. Since then, the tobacco crop has never been left aside, literal-
ly translating into fortune, in terms of wellbeing.
Since 2012, the fields are under the coordination of the third generation of
the German descendants. Their parents, Fredolino and Selma, were replaced by
their four children, Marileia, Marilei, Juliana and Fabiana. Indirectly, all of them
get involved with the crop, although some of themdo no longer live on the farm,
which is the case of Juliana and Marileia.
The harmony between the children is greatly responsible for the well-conduct-
ed succession. Marilei, 35, andwifeMiriam, together with the youngest daughter Fa-
biana, are responsible for everything that has to do with the tobacco crop. “At har-
succession
Roecker family turns unionbetweengenerations
into the biggest inheritance, thusmaking the
farmmore profitable in the rural setting…. Fortune!
vest, Juliana also helps, and is paid for it. As to
Marileia, who lives rather far away, the question
is also very transparent. I think, this is the secret”,
pondersMarilei.
Together, the Roeckers cultivate 100 thousand
tobaccoplants.Eversincetheystartedcultivatingto-
bacco,theyhavebeenlinkedtothesamecompany.
Overthepastyears,theyinvestedintechnologyand
achieved high productivity rates, which motivated
themtoinvestmoreintobacco.“Westartedprepar-
ing the land fromMarch toAprilwithoats,which re-
tains soil moisture. Our pattern improved from 220
grams per plant to 280 grams. This is encouraging”,
Marilei jokes, who, along with his wife Miriam, also
operate a dairy farmof 50 animals, of which 20 are
now lactating, along with 30 Jersey heifers, whose
milkhasahighercontentoffat.
As for Fabiana, 19, field management is far
from being a challenge. “I like this crop a lot. I
grewup seeingmy family involvedand I intend to
carry on with this activity, seeing that there is no
agricultural crop that yields a profit per hectare
comparable to tobacco”, she concludes.
RIO FORTUNA
– City located in the south-
ern region of Santa Catarina, near Tubarão and
Criciúma. It has a population of 4.6 thousand
people. Average income of the households in
themunicipality remains at R$ 6.5 thousand, al-
most twice asmuch as in the urban zone.
Successful
The third generation
of the Roecker
family took over the
fields in 2012
89
TABACO EMRIO FORTUNA
Área colhida
620 hectares
Quantidade produzida
1,1mil toneladas
Rendimentomédio
1,8 toneladas por hectare
Valor total da produção
R$ 10,6milhões
Fonte: InstitutoBrasileirodeGeografiaeEstatística(IBGE).
TOBACCO INRIO FORTUNA
Planted area
620 hectares
Amount produced
1.1 thousand tons
Average yield:
1.8 tons per hectare
Value of the crop
R$ 10.6million
Source:Brazilian InstituteofGeographyandStatistics(IBGE).
