Women rules the world’s largest TIB seedling biofactory

The world´s largest seedling TIB (Temporary Immersion in Bioreactors) biofactory is “mastered” by women and is located in Brazil.

Conny de Wit leads the female work in the laboratories (photo – Gigo)

SBW do Brasil produces 50 million seedlings of different species per year in Holambra municipality, São Paulo state, and counts 8.7 women for each man in the team (131 to 15).

The command is also undertaken by female leadership. Conny de Wit is CEO at SBW do Brasil. “The company opers certainly the largest cloning laboratory in the world using the Temporary Immersion System in Bioreactors for seedlings”, says.

Currently, the structure has five labs that use 3,000 TIB unities, totaling 15,000. That means the company is able to produce 100 million sugarcane seedlings annually.

Once they also cultivate species such as papaya and banana, annual production reaches 50 million seedlings.

According to Conny, the most of laboratories worldwide have only TIB experimental areas. The technique´s main advantage is achieving a high standardization level for seedlings through cloning.

Due to this, units present more predictability, inputs savings and ease management in the field, in addition to keep genetic potential for productivity.

“Laboratories from all over the world are interested about our technology”, says the Dutch-born executive. Since 2017, the company sustains an average growth of 30% per year.

Accuracy

Natércia Pereira picks up papaya seedlings in the laboratory (photo: Gigo)

The female workforce is important, elsemore management, also for accurate operations of pruning seedlings, contributing to the quality and efficiency of the process.

Employee Natércia da Silva Pereira is Portuguese and had worked at SBW’s laboratories in the Netherlands before coming to Brazil in 2017. She considers her activity very important and is proud about that.

“I am very pleased to know that many plants that will be over Brazilian fields have passed through my hands”, comments.

According to her, seedling reproduction process begins by choosing the best plants. “Once you select one, it will reproduce thousands and thousands of others”, he adds.