Water is the basis of life on the planet, so it is essential to use it in an intelligent way. In various economic segments, the management of this natural resource in the production processes has become essential and, in the world of coffee, it is a registered trademark.
For example, Cecafé (Council of Coffee Exporters of Brazil) maintains, as part of its Informed Producer program, a specific module regarding water management, sharing the best practices w ith producers in both lecture classes and on field days.
According to Luciana Florêncio, executive director of Cecafé, Brazilian coffee is sustainable throughout its processes, and the correct use of water is an important part of that. “The producers have invested continually in new technologies that not only allow water to be reused, but also return it back to nature, always keeping the balance of nature and the environment in which the sector is involved,” says Luciana.
Today, according to figures from the Procafé Foundation, Brazilian coffee cultivation uses a very low level of water, around a thousand liters per hectare/year on average for standard coffee production. To put that into perspective, only 270,000 hectares of land use the natural resource in their irrigation processes (in which a large part is complementary), an irrelevant number if we consider that the country has 2.7 million hectares working with coffee. “When critical periods occur, very dry spells, the majority of producers work with a localized irrigation system, which fur ther reduces consumption,” Luciana explains.
When spraying, for example, the water used is around one thousand liters on average per ha/year. In post-harvest preparation, the consumption of the natural resource is almost non-existent, because a large part of the Brazilian production is natural, without depulping.
To reach this level, the sector has invested a lot in cutting-ed ge technology in its production processes in order to, as much as possible, reuse the water it uses. With regard to irrigation, Brazilian coffee is at the forefront of the processes that make good use of water.
Another study done by Embrapa Café shows that around 25% to 30% of the area of coffee cultivation in Brazil uses modern irrigation methods, with equipment that reduces use to an average one thousand liters of water per kilo of coffee. This is a representative figure, since it results in a drop of 50% in consumpti on of the natural resource in relation to 5 years ago.
One example of cutting-edge technology for reducing water consumption in the coffee irrigation process is Controlled Hydric Stress. With this system, the producer can suspend irrigation for up to 72 days during the dry period, without compromising the quality of the fruit.
In the case of wet-method processing for depulped coffees, part of the producers use the Wastewater Cleaning System (SLAR), developed by Consórcio Pesquisa Café, which brings together efforts from three important entities: Embrapa Café, INCAPER (Capixaba Institute of Research and Rural Extension), and EPAMIG (Agricultural Research Company of Minas Gerais). SLAR acts by removing solid residues extracted from wet-method processing of coffee fruits. In practice, this wastewater collected by the system is rich in organic materials and nutrients that are used in fertigation (process often used on the crop, which replaces part of the fertilizer in planting), thus reducing the consumption of water by up to 76%. In these cases, for example, on average, 0.5 liters of water is used per liter of coffee/fruits processed , well below the 3 or 4 liters needed in a common process.
“Thanks to the very well-done new technology research and development work over the years by research institutes such as the Procafé Foundation and Embrapa, plus the investments of the companies in implementing improvements, the sector has evolved a lot. It is essential for us to continue on this path so that coffee cultivation develops sustainably, bringing added value not only to the production chain, but to coffee consumers around the world,” concludes Luciana.