Five years ago, only 10% of the administration positions were carried out by women, according to the research from the Brazilian Association of Rural Marketing and Agribusiness (Portuguese: ABMRA)

 

Research by the Brazilian Association of Rural Marketing and Agribusiness (ABMRA), which precedes the Agricultural Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Portuguese: IBGE), reveals that one out of three rural management positions is exercised by a woman. Today they hold 30% of management positions.

 

The survey, carried out during 2017, had the participation of 2,090 farmers and 717 cattle ranchers from 15 states of Brazil. Five years ago, in 2013, the female participation in managerial and administrative positions was 10 percent.

 

One of these women is the rural administrator, Sarita Junqueira Rodas, from Monte Azul Paulista (SP). Ten years ago, after her father’s death, she was only 25 years old and found herself in the midst of a dilemma about who was to lead the business. She and her two sisters, until then, had no experience in the field.

 

Entrepreneurial and daring, Sarita did not think twice – she studied, became specialized in the area and today is the head of the Junqueira Rodas Group, which produces orange, sugar cane and holds the birthplace of the Tabapuã cattle breed, in a town of the same name, located in the São Paulo state. She was also the first woman to become a member of the Fundecitrus board, besides being vice-president of ABCT (Portuguese for Association of Breeders of the Tabapuã Cattle).

 

“Looking for a top management position in agribusiness, being a woman, was something that scared people a lot, especially in a company that was already in full operation. I graduated in Law, however I accepted the challenge, I did several internal and external training for six years and I started working at the company “, she recalls.

 

Efforts were rewarded. In addition to doubling company equity and production – last year the group produced 4.3 million boxes of orange, which is equivalent to 340 million juice cups. It has 450 employees under her management in 13 farms spread throughout the states of São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.

 

The survey, carried out by the AMRA, also reveals that one out of four women in command in rural properties has higher education. Among men, it is one out of five.

 

The survey also points out that 81% of the interviewees do not carry out another activity. In 2013, 43% of them had their only residence in the countryside; now this number is 56%. Five years ago, 30% of them said they had two houses, one in the city and one in the countryside. Now only 19% have.

 

About the Junqueira Rodas Group
Founded in 1968, the Junqueira Rodas Group, one of the largest in Brazilian agribusiness, produces orange, sugar cane and Tabapuã cattle. The operations are distributed in 13,271 hectares divided into 12 properties in the state of São Paulo and one in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Over four years, more than R$ 123 million were invested in crops and livestock, doubling annual revenues in this period.

 

Orange is the company’s main product, marketed in natura for juice production. There are 2,087,670 trees planted in 4,269 hectares; the record harvest is 4,300,000 juice boxes, registered in the 2017/2018 cycle. The production of sugarcane reached 225,000 tons in the last harvest. The sugarcane plantations are in 3,837 hectares of the Group. The Farm Água Milagrosa, located in the city of Tabapuã, contains the 1,300 Tabapuã cattle units. The genuinely Brazilian breed is used for fertilization and genetic improvement.