Isaura Daniel
São Paulo – Brazilian coffee crops will double in productivity within the next ten years. Farmers will also be able to replant coffee every 30 years, instead of having to replant every 15 years. Both advantages may be obtained once Brazilian coffee producers start using the varieties produced in the Coffee Genome Project, the largest coffee data bank in the world, which includes 32,000 genes, and was officially released this week.
This project is an initiative by the Brazilian Consortium of Coffee Research and Development, a group of 40 research institutes in the country, which should provide commercial results once the cultivars developed through the research are being planted. This should take around 10 years. What exists today is a great gene bank.
"Now we are going to identify them. After we have discovered the function of each gene, we are going to find them in wild varieties and transplant them into commercial varieties in laboratory," explained Antônio de Pádua Nacif, Consortium coordinator and general manager of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), which heads the project.
The use of biotechnology is going to reduce the process by half. The traditional method, using cross breeding of varieties, takes around 25 to 30 years to generate results. The project objective is to genetically improve plants, making them, for example, more resistant to specific diseases. Rust, common in coffee plantations, currently causes coffee farmers 30% loses. Around 40 researchers are going to work in the process.
Gain
Productivity, according to Nacif, may rise from the current 17 to 19 bags per hectare to between 30 and 32 bags due to genetic improvement. The lifespan of the plants should also double. This should also result in an increase of around 100%. The increased lifespan should reduce the need for replanting, reducing producer costs.
Farmers may also economize on chemical products, as the plants are naturally resistant to some pests, and will not need fungicides or pesticides. Embrapa figures show that producers spend around US$ 200 million a year in pesticides.
According to Nacif, the objective is to increase the coffee cropland in the country. "Coffee producers will be able to produce the same volume on a smaller area and make land available for other cultures," he explained. The idea is to reduce the current coffee cropland from the current 2.7 million hectares to 1.35 million, making another 1 million hectares available for the production of foods like rice, beans, maize, wheat, or replacement of natural vegetation.
Trade
Brazil has no problems with coffee supply. The country exports one third of its production, which last year totalled 30 million bags. This year, the forecast is for production of 38 million bags. Sector export revenues rose 23.1% in the first seven months of the year, despite the 4.3% drop in the shipped volume, according to figures supplied by the Brazilian Coffee Exporter Council (CeCafé). Revenues reached US$ 1 billion, as against the US$ 828.9 million in the same period last year. Shipping totalled 13.7 million bags.
New trading
Brazil is making an effort, however, to export more coffee. On Tuesday (10), four cooperatives in the sector, Minasul, Cooparaíso, Cocapec, and Capebe, presented the Brazilian minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply, Roberto Rodrigues, their plan for establishment of Coffee Company S.A., a company turned to export of the product. The cooperatives plan to place the company among the largest companies in the country in the sector, and sell around 3 million bags a year. The presidents of the cooperatives are after partners for the project.
The Arabs
Syria is currently the Arab country that purchases the largest volume of Brazilian coffee. Between January and July this year, the country imported 184,000 bags from Brazil, being in 20th place in the ranking of largest importers of the product. The increase was 367% with regard to the same period in 2003. Lebanon imported 136,000 bags in the period, a volume 13.7% greater than in the first seven months of 2003.
Research
The Coffee Genome project started being implanted two years ago. Investment has totalled around US$ 2 million to date. The Ministry of Agriculture and the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp) invested over US$ 600 million. The remaining costs, especially for personnel and infrastructure, were covered by the partner companies.
