Grower Story
Eloir Skrzypczak
Eloir Skrzypczak, of Capanema, Brazil has farmed all his life, from dairy and beef production to corn, grass, and sugar cane. But for the past two years, he has cultivated organic cassava on 4.5 hectares of his 11-hectare farm in Brazil’s Paraná region/state.
The starchy cassava root, a versatile vegetable used to make flour and tapioca, is a diet staple in Brazil and tropical cultures throughout the world. And although it is easier to manage than many crops, the woody, drought-resistant shrub still requires great care to maximize yield, and most of it is done by hand.
Eloir uses a tractor only to prepare the fields for planting. Then, sometimes with the help of his wife and nine-year-old son, he carefully plants each propagated cutting by hand, spacing each as tightly as possible. If plants are spaced too far apart, they will be susceptible to breakage from high winds. Planting too close together hampers root growth, which is the essence of the plant.
Weed management is also essential to maximizing yield in the cassava fields, and it requires both machine and manual labor. Because the plant grows so quickly, weeding can be done by machine only during the first month, when the plant is up to a foot tall. After that, Eloir hires 10 people to weed the fields by hand on 40 days throughout the nine-month growing season, which totals about 50 percent of total expenses.
Even with careful planting, weather often takes a toll on the cassava fields. Five bad storms over the past season left Eloir’s fields with many broken tops. With damage factored in, he still expects to yield about 120 metric tons of cassava root his second season, about 30 percent more than he did his first year. Next season, he plans to dedicate 2.5 additional hectares to cassava.
Cassava harvesting is also done by hand. Each plant is pulled from the ground and stripped of leaves, which are used for animal feed. Stems are cut into sections for replanting, and the cassava roots are loaded onto a rented truck for transport to the processing plant. During harvest, Eloir delivers about 10 tons of cassava a day to the factory.
When not working, Eloir can be found fishing, playing cards with friends, or relaxing at home with his wife and son. His 18-year-old daughter, now at college, visits when she can. When gathering together for a weekend meal, Eloir is often preparing family favorites on the barbeque grill -- including cassava.