ASSOCIAÇÀO DOS FUMICULTORES DO BRASIL Santa Cruz do Sul, 7th February 2007 W ORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) W HO œ 20 Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27 Switzerland Dear Sirs: It is a pleasure to greet you and tell you that we have learned about the public hearings on crop diversification and alternative crops for tobacco from the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (W HO, FCTC), to take place in Brasília (Brazil), on 26th February 2007. Expressing our approval to this initiative, we hereby manifest our decision to participate in the said hearings, where we shall be represented by Benício Albano W erner, treasurer, and Heitor Êlvaro Petry, vice-president of our association. W e are convinced that initiatives of this kind will contribute a lot toward the development of alternative projects, and we are entirely in line with them and willing to collaborate, as we are directly identified with the tobacco growers in South Brazil and act as their legitimate representatives. It is therefore our intention to share with you our initiatives in this respect and find out others, in order to lend our support to the W HO and to the Brazilian government. Please find attached all the information about our association, its scope, its interests, as well as its source of income, accompanied by objective reports on our activities and diversification support projects. W e are submitting this documentation for your analysis, whilst outlining what we want to present at the hearing. Hoping you will accept our submission, allowing us to give our contribution to the hearing, W e remain, Yours faithfully MARCÈLIO LAURINDO DRESCHER President of Afubra ASSOCIAÇÀO DOS FUMICULTORES DO BRASIL OBACCO GROW ERS‘ ASSOCIATION OF BRAZIL Text for the public hearing in Brasília, on 26th February 2007 Tobacco Growers‘ Association of Brazil œ AFUBRA The organization The Tobacco Growers‘ Association of Brazil (AFUBRA), is a class entity, founded on 21st March 1955, in the town of Santa Cruz do Sul (RS). Including the headquarters and branches, the association comprises 18 units, scattered across the tobacco growing regions in South Brazil. Scope As a tobacco growers‘ class representative, the association operates in the three southern states of Brazil: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. Of a total of 190 thousand tobacco growers in South Brazil, at the 2005/06 crop, 145 thousand are members of Afubra. Adhesion is renewed at a yearly basis, and is spontaneous. The interest Historically, that is to say, over the 51 years of its existence, AFUBRA has promoted crop and farm diversification, as a manner to fight the risks of tobacco monoculture practices. Many initiatives and practices developed by the association have had very positive results. Afubra understands that it is necessary to intensify all efforts in search of new alternatives and, to this end, has entered into agreements with public and private organs, and therefore wants to share its positive experiences, previously explained and mentioned, and take part in new moves for alternatives to tobacco. The source of income As the maintainer of a Mutuality System, Afubra collects fees from its associate members, known as yearly tuition and contribution, which are utilized to compensate for hailstorm and windstorm incidences hitting the tobacco fields and for curing-barn fires. Some resources come from agreements signed with government organs and private organizations for the purpose of developing specific projects. Promoting diversification Since its foundation, AFUBRA has been warning the farmers about the risks of monoculture, whilst guiding them for a better use of the land and labor, available the whole year round. To this end, the association boasts a structure that offers incentive to crop diversification, whether for subsistence or income complementation, as detailed below: ASSOCIAÇÀO DOS FUMICULTORES DO BRASIL Technical body, products and services: - Permanent technical assistance and rural extension team (agronomists, forestry engineer and farm technicians); - Supply of certified seed, inputs and farm implements; - Incentive to tree nurseries, energy and industrial forests through modern techniques - EXPOAGRO AFUBRA, an annual agriculture fair focused on diversification. It normally attracts about 50 thousand visitors and 250 exhibitors, featuring machinery, implements, experiments, demonstration fields, planting and irrigation systems, technology-oriented products and services, research and lectures on field activities. EXPERIMENT STATION Afubra‘s experiment station: Sits in an area of 100 hectares, in Rincão del Rey, a district of Rio Pardo (RS), and features the following: - Permanent development of demonstration fields; - Multiple agreements with public and private organs, entities and universities, for experiments with different cultivars; - Demonstrations of such practices as minimum tillage, direct planting, cultivars, fish farms and orchid management; - Tree nursery, with an annual output of one million exotic and native tree seedlings; - A curricular training center for trainees coming from technical courses; - Training sessions for students and farmers. ASSOCIAÇÀO DOS FUMICULTORES DO BRASIL Practical results (socioeconomic diagnosis) The statistical chart below depicts the structural changes that have occurred over the past 20 years, triggered by the incentive given to the development of subsistence and income complementing crops. W ith the support of public organs and private entities linked to the sector, the work resulted into the diversification of the activities developed by the farmers, with emphasis on corn, black-beans, poultry and reforestation. Hectares Production Value CROP planted % kg R$ Rice 0.087 0.5 361 123 Potatoes 0.063 0.4 184 103 Onion 0.023 0.1 101 53 Black-Beans 0.487 3 497 437 Tobacco 2.509 15.2 5,055 23,253.00 Vegetables and fruit 0.092 0.6 691 359 Cassava 0.172 1 1,841 276 Corn 2.72 16.5 6,153 1,354.00 Soybean 0.368 2.2 581 215 Others 0.192 1.2 516 268 Ponds 0.144 0.9 Fallow land 1.734 10.5 Native Forests 2.671 16.2 Reforested Areas 1.797 10.9 Pasturelands 3.441 20.9 SUB-TOTAL 16.5 100 15,980 26,441.00 Production Value LIVESTOCK Head/pieces kg R$ Poultry 270.6 931 959 Beef cattle 3 392 651 Dairy cattle * 2.6 3,932 1,612.00 Fish farming 156.3 164 423 Pigs 5.7 586 1,014.00 Others 11.8 105 206 SUB-TOTAL 450 6,110 4,865.00 Total General X 22,090 31,306.00 Source: AFUBRA * Production in liters. ASSOCIAÇÀO DOS FUMICULTORES DO BRASIL Initiatives resulting from the Production Diversification Support Program for Areas Planted to Tobacco In line with the Production Diversification Support Program for Areas Planted to Tobacco, launched by the Federal Government as a protection mechanism for the tobacco farmers before the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Afubra immediately adhered to it, lending its support to the government towards finding viable alternatives for the tobacco growers. At a fist stage, the association is conducting a research project for the production of biodiesel from sunflower. The initiative has partnered with the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (Unisc), Emater, Rural Unions, Rural W orkers‘ Federations and 22 municipalities in the Rio Trial crop of the biodiesel project œ AFUBRA /UNISC Pardo and Taquari Valley regions (state of Rio Grande do Sul). The purpose of the project is to appraise the technical, economic, and social viability of sunflower for the production of biodiesel, made from the crop‘s vegetal oil and coarse meal for feeding beef and dairy cattle, both for on-farm consumption and for sale. In every municipality, a one-hectare trial sunflower field was established for the production of biodiesel. AFUBRA believes in the energy potential from biomass and tries to bring this opportunity to the tobacco growers as an alternative to tobacco. A second research step started last January, through an agreement with the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA). This step of the program is also engaged in the production of biodiesel, involving 31 tobacco growing municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, following all the steps of the previously described project. One more step involves the promotion of reforestation schemes, aimed at producing wood for energy purposes and for timber for the civil construction industry. This step comprises eight tobacco growing municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, and they will all be given technical assistance and rural extension services. In practice, 32 half-hectare demonstration forests are to be established, as a reference for spreading the most modern development practices for small forest areas, with proven economic viability. The MDA will provide the necessary financial grants, complemented by its counterpart, Afubra. AFUBRA is responsible for carrying out the project, in partnership with the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC), Emater, Rural Unions, and Rural W orkers Unions. .