In recent years, world coffee production faced the impact of higher temperatures and  rain levels, that influenced coffee yield and quality, as well as an increase in pests and diseases in many producing countries, especially in those of Central America.

This scenario became even more sensitive in 2015, when we registered the warmest year in Earth’s history since temperature records began to be collected at the end of the 19th Century. Just to give you an idea, last year, the average temperature on Earth and of the oceans was  0,90oC above the average of the 20th Century, the highest registered since 1880, according to the spatial agency NASA and to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), of the United States.

The warming of the planet, as well as its impacts, has led the conference on climate change (COP 21) held in Paris in December 2015, to approve the first global agreement to slowdown greenhouse gases emissions. The 195 countries that signed the agreement will begin actions to contain the Earth’s elevation of average temperature, reducing it in 2°C.

Temperature elevation cause severe problems of drought, which directly affect coffee quality, price and the production in the world, according to The Climate Institute “A Brewing Storm: The climate change risks to coffee report”, commissioned by Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand.

According to this study, currently approximately 80%-90% of 25 million coffee growers worldwide are small farmers and, are more exposed to problems caused by climatic changes, since they have less capital to invest in technologies that would allow them to maintain the yield and competitiveness to face the challenges.

As demonstration of the seriousness of the problem, if a broad set of actions is not adopted to reduce the Earth’s current temperature, there will be an estimate reduction of coffee producing areas of up to 50% until 2050, according to the same study of The Climate Institute. This is an alarming situation, considering it will be difficult to meet the growing consumption demand of 2% a year (ICO’s data for the last five years) with a smaller production capacity.

Brazil also suffers from this scenario. In 2014, the strong drought and the high temperatures in the largest Brazilian coffee producing state – Minas Gerais – responsible for 50% of the Brazilian production – affected the local coffee production yields. Another case is the State of Espírito Santo, the second largest coffee producing state of Brazil that suffers, since 2014, from severe droughts, where impact on production is already noticeable.

However, Brazilian coffee production is one of the most developed around the globe,  from a technological and sustainability perspective, that allows  the local industry sector to have tools to surpass those challenges.

Over time, the Brazilian coffee sectors invested in research and development of new productive techniques and technology, as well as in training farmers about good agricultural practices.

An example of this evolution is that Brazilian Coffee productivity is one of the countries that greatly evolved in the world. In 1960, Brazil had a 4.9 million hectare area and productivity 6.08 bags per hectare, totaling 29.8 million bags. Currently, according to data from CONAB, the Brazilian territory has an area of 2.2 million hectares of coffee production and an productivity of 25.6 bags / ha, indicating a 55% reduction in its producing area, but with a four-fold increase in productivity, which resulted in a 66.4% increase in coffee production, estimated by CONAB at 49.7 million bags.

Furthermore, Brazilian coffee production also contributes to reducing emissions of CO2 by carbon sequestration as the coffee is considered a perennial tree, with an average duration between 20 to 30 years. In comparison to the year 1960, Brazil had 4.3 billion coffee trees. Today, there are 6.7 billion coffee trees.

More than that, the Brazilian coffee sector never stops and is always finding ways to adapt the best sustainability practices to its productive processes. In addition to Brazilian legislation, that is one of the most rigorous in the world, in March 2015 the new Sustainable Curriculum was launched, developed based on several coffee sustainability protocols / platforms of different institutions and on Normative Instruction 49/2013, of the Ministry of Agriculture, concerning good agricultural practices and coffee activity management.

The new Sustainable Curriculum consists of a set of common rules to produce sustainable coffees with quality in Brazil. Among the main themes contained in the program are water conservation in the farms, environmental management, farms management, information and traceability records, soil and water conservation, compliance to employment and labor laws, ensuring safety and health to workers, productive agronomic management and correct procedures at harvesting time.

The new Sustainable Curriculum is adopted and disseminated in the whole coffee sector, including among small and medium farmers, who now have access and encouragement to adopt the good agricultural practices proposed through special training programs.

An example is the Digital Coffee Farmer Program (PI), the digital inclusion project created by the coffee exporters in 2006, represented by Cecafe, that aims at training farmers in basic computer applications.

In 2015, the program was improved and is now engaged in a partnership with the Global Coffee Platform. In its new format, it includes also good agricultural practices, with the adoption of various items of the new Sustainable Curriculum, including: maintenance of the bushes managed between the plantation lines; preservation of the protected areas (APPs and Legal Reserves); use of alternate sources of energy; integrated protection; and coffee preparation, predominantly of the natural form of drying the beans; – drying them under the sun, in terraces, using less energy from non-renewable sources.

There is no question that all those actions performed together by private and public initiatives place Brazilian coffee production as an example to be followed in the whole world regarding productive processes that are increasingly more qualified, technological and sustainable, including actively working to mitigate climate change consequences.

Despite all the above, there are still huge challenges ahead, and to continue in the vanguard, it is fundamental to maintain investments in Research and Development, as well as to expand initiatives such as the Digital Coffee Farmer Program, increasingly disseminating good practices among all farmers and to have an increasingly stronger and environmentally correct domestic chain.

 

Marjorie Miranda – Coordinator of the Social Responsibility and Sustainability Programs of Cecafe.