Companies create new production pole
Goal was to produce own fruit to assist to the exports

" O Estado de São Paulo" newspaper. September 08, 2004.

A company from São Paulo, Euroconte Exportação and Import Ltd., owner of the brand Bátia, was the first to notice the potential of Rio Grande do Norte as producers of papaya. It arrived at the State in 1998, to produce own fruit, and today has 100 hectares of irrigated papaya in Ceará Mirim (RN). According to the Production Director of the company, José Luiz Ribeiro, last year, they have harvested 5 thousand tons of papaya, being half for export. The other half, out of the standard demanded by the external market, was sold to the supply markets centers in Fortaleza, Recife and Natal, besides assisting to regional chains as Carrefour, Makro and Bom Preço, among others." This year, we should arrive to 8 thousand tons".

According to Ribeiro, Bátia gets its productivity from 80 to 100 tons of papaya for hectare for cycle of 24 months. "Within five years, Rio Grande do Norte will be the largest producing of papaya of the Country", he foresees. "It will overcome even the Espírito Santo, the first of the ranking". Bátia doesn't have its partnerships with "assentados", but just with a private partner, of Ceará Mirim, with 40 hectares of the fruit.

Partnerships
Gaia Importação and Export Ltd., of the Espírito Santo, it has arrived in Rio Grande do Norte in 2001, to cultivate papaya. Today, it also possesses 80 hectares in Ceará Mirin He made partnerships with private producers, today in the total of six. In agreement with the general manager of the company, Luciano Furtado, in 2003 a partnership was firm with the establishment of Aguas vivas with 24 families, in the total of 24 hectares, divided in two stages. The first began the crop three months ago, in the base of 1.500 kilos for hectare per week. "The goal is to achieve 100 tons in the cycle from 24 to 28 months". The other stage begins until the end of the year.

The project, financed with resources of Pronaf , the through Bank of the Northeast, will be paid in eight years. Each family received R$ 12 thousand. The company supplies seeds and technology and buys the production of those seated. The fruits to be exported follow the quotation of the international market. Part of the production will be sold for the chains Carrefour and Extra, in Natal, and to the regional market.