Agreement aims at joint action to enlarge the area covered by the “Digital Coffee Farmer Program” in the State of São Paulo

The Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafe) has just signed a letter of intent with the Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo (State of São Paulo Agriculture and Supply Bureau) aiming at expanding coffee family farmers training in computer science and good agricultural practices in the State of São Paulo. The agreement aims at obtaining the support of the São Paulo Agriculture Bureau in order to expand the area covered by the “Digital Coffee Farmer Program” to meet a larger number of coffee farmers and rural workers. The project, created ten years ago by Cecafe, focus on digital inclusion and good agricultural practices for small and medium-sized coffee farmers in Brazil.

By this agreement, Cecafe and the São Paulo Agriculture Bureau commit themselves to promote training courses for farmers with emphasis in sustainability actions for Brazilian coffee crops. The work plan, which includes organization, making it operational and detailing the program and schedule of the courses, will be executed by the Technical Group of Cooperation (GTC), formed by representatives of Cecafe and the São Paulo Bureau of Agriculture and Supply. Furthermore, the partnership contemplates supplying the material farmers need to take part in the program.

“For more than a decade we’ve been seeking ways to improve and expand our programs for small farmers’ inclusion and sustainability. This new partnership with the São Paulo State Agriculture and Supply Bureau is another important step in this direction”, said Luciana Florêncio, executive director of Cecafe.

According to her, the sustainable practices should always walk hand-in-hand with the coffee chain and, to meet this goal, it is essential to have farmers who are well prepared and connected with the best and most innovative production practices. “That is the only way to have increasingly more qualified products, and sustainable productive processes”, she added.

The “Digital Coffee Farmer Program” also counts with the partnership of EMATER-RO, EMATER-MG, Incaper, Fundação Hanns Neumann, Ifes-Agrifesw, Coocapec e Cooxupé, covering 45 municipalities in the main producing states (Minas Gerais, Espírito Santos, São Paulo and Rondônia). Since it was created, this program has trained 2,000 participants, and it is our expectations that during this year another 1,500 students will be trained in different regions of Brazil.