São Paulo – In 21003, when he began growing Tahiti lemons in Jaíba, in the north of the state of Minas Gerais, 600 kilometres away from the Belo Horizonte, farmer Reginaldo Nunes Saraiva did not aim so high. At least not in such a short period of time. Seven years later, in partnership with two other entrepreneurs, he is already shipping five containers to Europe each week, holding 24 tonnes of the fruit each. Foreign sales already represent 60% of revenues for the grower, who left the state of Piauí to venture into the world of citrus fruit in Minas Gerais land.
"I started out farming one hectare worth of lemon,” says Saraiva. Heading Fazenda Ouro Verde (Green gold Farm), he began exporting in 2004. “I attended a fair in São Paulo where I made contacts to export, and right there at the event I closed a deal for our first batch” he says.
Now, Tahiti lemons from Jaíba are shipped on a weekly basis to Germany, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The aim is to make even more progress in the foreign market over the next few years. And that includes the Arab world. “I am keenly interested, I want to sell to those countries,” says Saraiva. “We are working hard on our contacts to that end,” he claims.
According to Saraiva, the rising exports from Fazenda Ouro Verde are linked to a partnership signed with two other enterprises: company Phelo Produção Agropecuária and Fazenda Simônica, both in the Jaíba region. “We are not partners, but we export together,” explains the farmer. “This was how we managed to make progress abroad,” he says.
In Brazil, aside from Minas Gerais, Ouro Verde fruit is sold in the states of Alagoas, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and the Federal District. Lemon production is estimated at 42 tonnes per hectare/year. The price is around 1.20 Brazilian real per kilogram.
The secret to the success of lemons from the region? “Here, the weather favours production, because we get lots of sunlight and water at once,” says Saraiva. “We have no problems due to seasonality, and this is a variety of lemon that holds lots of juice,” guarantees the entrepreneur.
Contact
Fazenda Ouro Verde
Telephone: (+55 38) 3833-2586
E-mail: pjfrutas@hotmail.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
