Tag: SindiTabaco

  • Iro Schunke Reelected President SindiTabaco

    Iro Schunke Reelected President SindiTabaco

    Iro Schunke (Photo: Taco Tuinstra)

    Iro Schunke has been reelected as the president of Brazil’s Interstate Tobacco Industry Union, SindiTabaco. The election took place in early September at the organization’s head office in Santa Cruz do Sul.

    Schunke, who has presided over SindiTabaco since 2006, intends to continue the organization’s work in defense of the tobacco supply chain during his upcoming tenure. “We consider all matters of common interest to our associate members, with an eye on strengthening the supply chain as a whole,” said Schunke in a statement. “Our major goals are the regulatory matters, social and environmental responsibility and visibility of the sector.”

    Within this context, SindiTabaco has been keeping a close watch on all matters relating to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention for Tobacco Control and pioneered programs in the social and environmental areas. Among other initiatives, the organization has initiated programs to combat deforestation and collect empty pesticide containers. Meanwhile, the Growing Up Right Institute has worked diligently to eradicate child labor.

    Furthermore, SindiTabaco encourages rural diversification through such initiatives as the corn, bean and pastureland after tobacco harvest program. “Our work is totally transparent, as this is the model that we are trying to strengthen,” said Schunke. We will continue guiding our activities in areas that impact upon the life of those who earn a livelihood from this agribusiness segment.”

    Besides Schunke, the board of directors is composed of the following members: Edenir Gassen, secretariat vice president; Flavio Marques Goulart, finance vice president; Valmor Thesing, industrial affairs vice president; Roberto Naue, fiscal affairs vice president; Paulo Cezar Favero, tobacco production and quality vice president; and Guatimozin de Oliveira Santos Filho, vice president of environmental management and social responsibility.

    The new board of directors will take office on Oct. 22.

  • Brazil: Anti-Child Labor Initiatives Paying off

    Brazil: Anti-Child Labor Initiatives Paying off

    Iro Schuenke

    The tobacco industry in Brazil has made great strides in its battle against child labor, SindiTabaco announced on the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) World Day Against Child Labor on June 10.

    SindiTabaco launched its “The Future is Now” program in 1998—four years before the ILO debuted World Day Against Child Labor.

    Today, the tobacco sector is the only one to require proof of school enrollment of its farmers’ school-age children. Tobacco companies will renew production contracts with growers only if they can present a certificate of school attendance.

    According to SindiTabaco president Iro Schuenke, the first actions intended to create awareness of the importance of school attendance. “At that time, the companies got organized in contact with the municipalities in order to actively solve one-off questions related to school evasion, mainly caused by the lack of schools or deficient transport systems affecting farmers’ children,” he explains.

    As the years went by, these initiatives evolved and gave rise to the Growing Up Right Institute, which has already benefited 500 teenagers in rural areas. The institute pioneered professional learning programs for the young in the countryside, qualifying adolescents through rural management and entrepreneurship courses.

    “For most of the young, besides being an opportunity for developing their skills without having to leave their communities, it is also their first formal job, as the program complies with the learning law, and the young participants receive a salary proportional to 20 hours a week,” says Schuenke, who is also the director president of the Growing Up Right Institute. “It is a manner for them to spend their time in the course and at school, far away from tasks inappropriate for their age.”

    Tobacco Reporter profiled the Growing Up Right Institute in April.

  • ‘Reforestation Efforts Paying off in Brazil’

    ‘Reforestation Efforts Paying off in Brazil’

    Photo: Joao Bispo

    Tobacco industry reforestation efforts are paying off in southern Brazil, reports industry association SindiTabaco on National Atlantic Forest Day. Over the past 40 years, the tobacco sector has been working to eradicate the consumption of wood from native trees for curing. As a result, Forest cover on small-scale tobacco farms has now reached 24 percent, split into 15 percent native forests and 9 percent planted forests, according to data released by the Tobacco Growers’ Association of Brazil.

    “For some decades now, the sector has been self-sufficient in fuel wood for curing tobacco, and thus native forests are preserved,” said SindiTabaco president Iro Schunke. “Incentives provided by the industries, which started in the mid-1970s, and the farmers’ willingness to plant eucalyptus trees played a fundamental role in the present enviable forest cover rates.”

    In 2019, SindiTabaco partnered with the Federal University of Santa Maria to preserve forests while providing farmers with a sustainable source of energy.

    “Tobacco is a centuries-old crop, and when it was brought to our region, it was strongly dependent on natural forests as a source of fuel wood, particularly because back then there were no planted forests,” says research coordinator Jorge Antonio de Farias.

    For some decades now, the sector has been self-sufficient in fuel wood for curing tobacco, and thus native forests are preserved.

    Iro Schunke, president, SindiTabaco

    “Such common tree species as eucalyptus and acacia were rare at that time and little known, and, on the other hand, native forests were in great abundance. As of the 1970s, when the sector set targets to eradicate the consumption of wood from native trees, the farmers began to use wood from planted forests.

    “Within this context, the target of the project consists in strengthening the conquests achieved so far—that is to say, the maintenance of the existing native forests—and at the same time come up with new elements and technologies capable of increasing the productivity rates of existing reforested plots whilst establishing new reforestation areas.

    “To this end, we are creating reference units in tens of tobacco farms, testing new technologies and techniques, like spacing—distance between trees—new genetic materials and forest species that lead to higher productivity and energy performance.”

    The results of the research will be shared through social media channels with tobacco farmers.