BRAZIL (News release) -- Suzano is building a nursery with the capacity to produce 35 million eucalyptus seedlings per year that will meet the demand of the massive forest of its new factory in Ribas do Rio Pardo, Brazil. One of the company's most modern and sustainable structures, the structure occupies an area of around 21 hectares and will have a constructed area of 111,000 m², and should be completed in mid-2024. During the works, around 300 people will be employed and, when in operation, 200 direct jobs will be generated.

The structure will also have bioecological equipment that will be able to guarantee a highly technological and sustainable operation. "The Ribas do Rio Pardo nursery will have two machines for the production of biodegradable tubes, which will allow the cultivation of eucalyptus seedlings in containers produced from a mixture of organic compounds, removing the need to use plastic materials from the process." comments Rodrigo Zagonel, executive forestry manager at Suzano.

In addition to being powered by renewable energy, the structure will also have automated irrigation processes that will be defined by human action, but triggered by an electronic system. The seedlings will also provide greater quality and cost reduction for the forestry operation in the region of Ribas do Rio Pardo.

By the end of the construction and implementation of the new plant, scheduled for the second half of 2024, the company should expand the forestry base in the state to 600,000 hectares.

"At Suzano, we follow a policy of responsible production and consumption and, therefore, we adopted a policy of zero deforestation. All of our eucalyptus forests are located in areas that were already occupied by other crops. This policy is part of our public commitment to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, setting aside more than 35% of our own areas for the preservation of native forests. In this sense, we are implementing ecological corridors in all states where we maintain operations with the goal of connecting more than 500 thousand hectares of the Cerrado, Atlantic Forest and Amazon biomes", adds Maurício Miranda.

In Mato Grosso do Sul, the ecological corridor was launched in March this year with the aim of connecting 136 thousand hectares of priority areas for environmental conservation in the Cerrado biome, through the implementation of a 394-kilometer ecological corridor in the state. The initiative foresees reforestation actions with native seedlings connecting priority areas of six municipalities (Água Clara, Brasilândia, Ribas do Rio Pardo, Santa Rita do Pardo, Selvíria and Três Lagoas).

Suzano is a global reference in the manufacture of bioproducts developed from the cultivation of eucalyptus.