Caracterização e modelagem da produção florestal para o setor do tabaco no sul do Brasil

Abstract

The quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the forest stands that make up the forest base for tobacco farming make the development of forest production strategies challenging, as the processes of implanting and managing forests are carried out empirically, including in relation to initial planting density. Given these premises, the hypothesis is presented that the planning of family forestry production in the Virginia Integrated Tobacco Production System, based on forest plantations with technically adequate initial densities, allows for a sustained volumetric yield of forest biomass for the tobacco curing process. Virginia. Therefore, the objective of this research was to characterize and model forestry production for the tobacco sector in southern Brazil. This study was developed in an exploratory manner using methods and techniques to investigate factors related to the production of family forest biomass (firewood) for energy purposes. The study area encompasses four regions producing Virginia tobacco in southern Brazil, which are part of the area of operation of the company Japan Tobacco International (JTI). The data collection initially consisted of carrying out forest inventories on a single occasion, which were used to characterize the forest base and continuous forest inventories, in forest plantations of Eucalyptus dunnii, which were used for modeling forest growth and production. Consultations were also carried out on the JTI registration database to determine firewood consumption, and finally forestry production scenarios were constructed, which considered the production capacities observed through modeling, and had a cost-benefit ratio determined. It was found that the forest base of the studied regions consists of 3,114 producers, who have an average of 1.7 hectares of forest area. Thus, the total area of the forest base was estimated at approximately 4,567.41 hectares of forest plantations of the Eucalyptus genus. The forest base for tobacco farming, for the most part, is based on forests that have already exceeded the technical age of rotation for energy forests, which is around 7 years. When analyzing the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of forest plantations, great variation was observed within and between the regions analyzed. As for modeling forest growth and production, the models proved to be robust for estimating the site index, basal area and stand volume. The analysis of forestry production scenarios demonstrated that forests with technically adequate planting densities are capable of meeting the demand for firewood for the Virginia tobacco curing process and have a more attractive cost-benefit ratio than overdense plantations. The levels of productive capacity of E. dunnii forest plantations are compatible with the concept of sustained volumetric yield, since production was sufficient to meet the demand for firewood in the Virginia tobacco curing process.