Situated in the municipality of Cortez, it was founded in 1891 by three brothers-in-law and a son of Colonel Manoel Gomes da Cunha Pedroza, the Baron of Bonito: João de Siqueira Barbosa Arcoverde, Suiterbo de Siqueira Barbosa Arcoverde, José Belarmino Pereira de Melo and Antônio Parízio da Cunha Pedroza, who were granted permission to build a factory on their plantation Flor da Ilha (Island Flower).
The name of the factory is in honour of Colonel Manoel Gomes da Cunha Pedroza, who had received the title of Baron of Bonito four years prior to its construction.
It was an age of decline for the banguê-soil plantations that produced raw sugar and spirits, being replaced by factories that began to produce crystal sugar and ethanol.
To administer the factory, the firm Arcoverde, Pereira & Parízio was created. The company did well until the death of the Baron of Bonito and the resignation of partners João Siqueira Barbosa Arcoverde and Suiterbo Siqueira Barbosa Arcoverde in 1901.
The factory then became under the management of José Piauhylino, who ran it until his death in 1906.
In 1910, the factory was sold to Colonel Arthur de Siqueira Cavalcanti and his partner Antônio Minervino de Moura Soares.
In 1917, Antônio Minervino sold his share, leaving Col. Arthur Siqueira Cavalcanti as the sole proprietor until his death in 1918, aged 54.
From 1918 to 1965, the factory was managed by his sons and sons-in-law.
In 1929, the factory had a large number of fields, with a production capacity of 70,000 tonnes of sugarcane. It had a 34 kilometres of railway, five
locomotives and 110 cars and wagons.
It had the capacity to process 500 tonnes of sugarcane and produce 4,000 litres of ethanol in 22 hours. In the milling period the factory employed around 200 workers.
From 1945 to 1955, there was the Cine Pedroza (Pedroza Cinema) at the factory, with 230 seats and showing films on Wednesdays and Sundays. During the showings of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, the cinema was crowded.
In 1965, the factory was sold to a group composed by Severino Barbosa de Farias, his son Antônio Farias, Torquato de Castro, José Cordeiro de Castro, Leonardo do Monte, Rubem Monte and Aluízio Freire.
The new owners dismantled the railways and locomotives (scrapping them), bought tractors and trucks, and began building roads.
With the death of his father, Severino Farias, and the resignations of other partners, Antônio Farias became the factory’s sole owner, carrying out great changes to make it more modern. He replaced all the machinery, built an alcohol distillery (25,000 litres/day), silos and bought properties.
From 1965 to 1982, Pedroza Sugarcane Factory doubled its sugarcane production capacity from 200,000 sacks of sugar to 500,000.
In 1982, with Antônio Farias having to manage two distilleries in Rio Grande do Norte, and being elected Federal Congressman for Pernambuco,
Pedroza Sugarcane Factory came under the administrative responsibility of his son Eduardo Farias, who together with his mother, Geralda Farias, are the current owners and administrators of the factory.
Recife, 7 August 2003.
(Updated on 9 September 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, February 2012.
sources consulted
ANDRADE, Manuel Correia de. História das usinas de açúcar de Pernambuco. Recife: FJN. Ed. Massangana, 1989. 114 p. (República, v.1)
GONÇALVES & SILVA. O assucar e o algodão em Pernambuco. Recife: [s.n.], 1929. 90 p.
MOURA, Severino. Senhores de engenho e usineiros, a nobreza de Pernambuco. Recife: Fiam, CEHM, Sindaçúcar, 1998. 320 p. (Tempo municipal, 17).
how to quote this text
Source: GASPAR, Lúcia. Pedroza Sugarcane Factory. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009