Paraná, September 23, 2019 – Rural farmers of Ortigueira who began planting banana in 2018 with support from Klabin’s Social Forests – Planning Sustainable Properties program are now reaping the benefits of a profitable and growing market. Currently, 33 farmers are cultivating the fruit, 10 of whom are already supplying to Ortigueira and Telêmaco Borba, 2.5 tons of bananas on average per week.

 

“Demand for the fruit is so heavy that a ten-fold increase in production would have sales guaranteed,” said Lindomar Schimitz, a Sebrae consultant and Klabin’s partner in the program. “The farmers have the conditions to increase production and meet market demand in the region before 2020. Expectations are that production will increase further and the challenge is to prepare farmers, especially youth, so that they can identify new markets to sell their produce.”

 

Adailton Pascoal Lessa is one of the main sellers of farmers’ produce in Ortigueira after the Social Forests Program helped them to map contacts for sale in the region. He confirms the high demand for bananas. “If the produce they deliver to me were doubled, we could satisfy the demand of these distribution points and I would no longer need to go to Santa Catarina to source additional volumes,” he said. Besides Adailton, farmers reach distribution points through cooperatives in Imbaú and Ortigueira and on their own.

 

Bananas produced by farmers are offered in school cafeterias to around 5,000 students in Ortigueira and 15,000 students in Telêmaco Borba. They are also included in the meals of over 2,000 Klabin employees working at the Monte Alegre unit in Telêmaco Borba and the Puma unit in Ortigueira. They are also used to feed animals at Klabin’s Ecological Park.

 

This scenario encourages farmers such as Neiva Terezinha da Silva from the Sapé community. She started her banana plantation with 170 trees and expects to ramp up production to around 500 trees in the coming months. Banana sales have already enabled her to buy a cow to also produce milk in her property. “If you have dreams and don’t shirk work, you can get what you want,” she states.

 

Most of the farmers’ produce is cultivated without using any type of pesticide, which is a competitive advantage. It is the case of Carlos Eduardo Scheneider, a farmer from Palmital, who has the organic product certification. “The taste is different and people notice it,” he said. Encouraged with the results, he expects to start cultivating other crops, such as avocado, papaya, heart of palm and coffee. Schimitz explains that, besides enabling farmers to reach other markets, having variety in the farms is possible since the banana tree is capable of improving the soil conditions and enhances the planting system. “After harvest, the organic matter resulting from decomposed roots feeds the soil and prepares the environment for the development of other cultures. Thus, in the agroforestry system, one plant helps another.”

 

Social Forests

 

The Social Forests – Planning Sustainable Properties program, launched by Klabin in Paraná in May 2015, promotes family farming and supports small farmers in the cities of Ortigueira, Imbaú, Telêmaco Borba and Reserva in all stages of production, from complying with environmental requirements to selling products in local markets, including diversifying the property and encouraging the formation of associations/cooperatives. In just over four years of operation, 430 properties have benefitted and more than 160 training programs have been held on agricultural management, livestock, organic production and environmental education, among others. In July 2019, the program was expanded to the municipalities of Sapopema, Curiúva, São Jerônimo da Serra, Tibagi and Cândido de Abreu. The initiative has as partners the Association for Preservation of the Environment and Life (Apremavi), the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) and municipal governments. The program recently received the “Sustainable Development Goals SESI Seal,” which recognizes actions that contribute to social development in the state of Paraná.

 

About Klabin

 

Klabin is Brazil’s largest producer and exporter of packaging paper, the leader in the corrugated board and industrial bag packaging segments, and the only company in the country offering one-stop shop solutions in hardwood, softwood and fluff pulp. Founded in 1899, Klabin has 17 industrial units in Brazil and one in Argentina. In Paraná alone, Klabin has generated over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in more than 25 cities close to its operations, especially in the Campos Gerais region.

 

Klabin pioneered the adoption of mosaic-based forest stewardship, which consists of planted forests interspersed with preserved native forests, forming ecological corridors that help to maintain the biodiversity.  Klabin’s forest area in Paraná totals 342,000 hectares, 142,000 of which are native forests. Klabin also maintains an Ecological Park in the Monte Alegre Farm in Telêmaco Borba for research and conservation purposes, which provides shelter and rehabilitates wild animals that are the victims of accidents or abuse, thus supporting the efforts of environmental authorities. It also helps to preserve the region’s flora and fauna, including endangered species.

 

Klabin’s management is entirely guided by Sustainable Development. Klabin has implemented most of its social and environmental programs in the Campos Gerais region, notably Social Forests – Planning Sustainable Properties, Legal Forests, Solid Waste Project, Growing Up Reading, Caiubi Program, Força Verde Mirim and Environmental Protectors.

 

Klabin also supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and the Brazilian Pact to Eradicate Slave Labor, and seeks suppliers and business partners that share its values of ethics, transparency and respect for sustainability principles.

 

Learn more at www.klabin.com.br