São Paulo – The government of the state of Espírito Santo is developing a project to improve the quality and productivity of Arabica coffee produced in the state. Last week, at the start of the product crop, the program was disclosed in the city of Iúna, one of the producer regions, to around 2,000 producers.
In the program, called "Renovar Arábica" (Renew Arabica), the government plans to replace older coffee plants for newer, more resistant to time and disease, over a period of 15 years. "Families in this region have lived off Arabica production for over 160 years and the renewal of the crops is one of the main challenges for the government," said the state secretary of Agriculture, Ricardo Santos.
Espírito Santo is Brazil’s second main producer of coffee and the sector generates 300,000 jobs in the interior of the state. The ”Renovar Arábica” program should be implemented in 49 cities in the state, in an area of 190,000 hectares. It should include over 20,000 small family properties, which involving, on average, 53,000 families.
The target is to renew 100% of the Brazilian Arabica coffee, replacing it for varieties recommended by scientific research and with the use of good agricultural practices. The objective is to double productivity, from 12 bags per hectare to 23 bags, apart from increasing the production from two million bags a year, without expansion of the cultivated area.
Production of the state of Espírito Santo represents over 25% of national production. If the production of Arabica coffee alone is taken into consideration, the state is in fourth place in the national ranking, losing only to Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná, answering to 8% of national production of Arabica coffee. Coffee farming is responsible for 43.6% of the Agricultural Gross Production Value (GPV) of Espírito Santo.
*Translated by Mark Ament
