Sustainability and social responsibility actions promoted by Brazilian agribusiness resulted in a greater integration between the productive chain agents and farmers’ income improvement. This is one of the reasons that in 50 years, Brazil, then a food importer became one of the leading global agricultural powers. During this period, coffee industry development allowed most of the population to have access to healthy and diversified produces, and to export increasingly higher volumes.

In the coffee chain case, the strengthening of agro-industrial sustainable systems has been constant, through initiatives that bring farmers closer, with actions aimed at developing new technologies and innovation. To further contribute to the above, for the last 15 years the coffee export segment promoted practices aimed at digital inclusion and good agricultural practices dissemination to improve productive processes, with a considerable increase in productivity, in harvested coffee quality and in small and medium-sized farmers’ productivity.

The coffee export industry – represented by the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafe), always believed in the direct benefit of sustainability actions for coffee growers’ income and, consequently, in a solid increase of overseas sales and access to the most diversified and demanding coffee markets.

In this regard, a recent study developed in the graduate program in Applied Economics of the Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” (Esalq) of the University of São Paulo, together with Senar-MG and Imaflora, assessed the impact of adopting sustainability practices as a feasible option for farmers in the state of Minas Gerais.

Discussions related to sustainability and discussions about the real cost-benefit of adopting good practices is increasingly more frequent, which required an assessment with academic accuracy, based on growers’ real data.

The primary information was obtained from coffee farmers who take part in the Educampo Program, a rural management program for farms, with coffee production in the cerrado region of the state of Minas Gerais. According to the author, among the sustainable practices noted are: management system, certification cultivars integrated management, soil handling and conservation, waste integrated management, ecosystems preservation, fair treatment and good labor conditions, water management, and other.

According to results obtained from the analysis of the consequences of sustainability on farmers’ economic performance will help promote Brazilian coffees, public-policy making, as well as strategies directed to expanding programs focused on adopting better agricultural practices. The above is substantiated by sustainability positive effects on productivity and on the assessed coffee growers’ gross income, although still on a limited basis.

However, what could be stated, according to the study, is that good agricultural practices did not compromise rural properties economic performance, and it demystifies the belief that their application could negatively impact the economic-financial viability of Brazilian coffee production.

Last but not least, expanding the adoption of good practices through partners’ integration results in efforts that place Brazil on the right path to ensure competitivity and the outright lead in global coffee trade.

For Cecafe, this is the way for Brazil to continue to serve the most diverse and demanding markets, especially when quality and sustainability are involved.

Marcos Matos – Chief Executive Officer – CECAFÉ
Marjorie Miranda – Social Responsibility and Sustainability Coordinator – CECAFÉ