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Catch Up

Colombian Delegation Concludes Successful Visit to Brazil

The Colombian delegation headed by Roberto Vélez, view of Colombia’s current coffee production
CEO of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) vis- and of strategic actions carried out to strengthen
ited Brazil’s main coffee-producing regions and met with senior profitability.
local government officials and representatives of Brazil’s main
exporter and equipment manufacturers.
The visit started with a meeting with Brazil’s Deputy
Minister of Agriculture, Francisco de Assis da Silva Lopes, se-
nior Brazilian officials of that Ministry and other government
instances. The meeting reopened spaces for knowledge exchange
and joint work between Colombia and Brazil, two leading coffee-
producing countries worldwide.

Impact of drought on Brazil’s coffee regions
The delegation visited Brazil’s main coffee regions,
including the states of Bahia, Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo and Espirito
Santo, in southeastern Brazil. The heterogeneous impact of
drought on different states was one of the issues discussed during
the visit.
Interviews with technical assistants and coffee growers
of Espirito Santo exposed the devastation generated by the dry
season. Over the past three years, drought has struck Espirito
Santo and led to a decrease in Robusta coffee production of be-
tween 45% and 55%.
The impact of drought, however, was less severe in states
such as Bahia. The delegation visited several coffee farms and
observed Robusta crops at different development stages: from
planting to production. Bahia producers noted that despite the
dry season, productivity and competitiveness remained high
thanks to irrigation.

Agronomic mechanization for small-scale coffee growers
In Minas Gerais, the Colombian delegation witnessed
Brazil’s advances in agronomic mechanization for small-scale
producers in gentle-slope terrains. The system consists of mo-
torcycles converted into tricycles, which enable producers to
perform different tasks, including application of fertilizer and
organic matter, liming, weeding and spraying. The idea behind
the tricycles is to overcome the region’s labor shortage and
increase productivity. Minas Gerais producers noted that these
vehicles may decrease labor costs by 50% in the region. Visits to companies pioneering agricultural equipment
production
Colombian delegation visited Brazil’s largest coffee coop- In the state of Sao Paulo, the Colombian delegation
erative visited the companies Jacto and Brudden. The former leads
Potential business partnerships, specialty coffee, coffee production of spray equipment for agricultural producers of all
policies and dynamics of the Brazilian coffee industry were some sizes. Brudden, on the other hand, has pioneered since 2002 the
of the issues discussed by the Colombian delegation and leaders development of a machine to bring down coffee, used by small-
of the Cooxupé Cooperative, headed by its president, Carlos scale producers at harvesting in sloped terrain. This machine has
Alberto Paulino da Costa. been tested in Colombia in studies conducted by Cenicafé.
During their visit to the cooperative’s facilities, Co- During the visit, Colombian delegates made a series of
lombian delegates were introduced to Cooxupé’s Big-Bags used design and operational requests to Brudden engineers, requests
in coffee warehouses (a technology associated with inventory that had a positive reception. Before concluding the visit, the Co-
management), the coffee threshing and classification sections, lombian delegation toured the Recreio farm, located in Veracruz,
in-bulk storage in silos, and new coffee roasting and packaging and witnessed experimentation with new coffee varieties and a
developments. practical exercise with Brudden’s machine to bring down coffee.
The cooperative organized two academic lectures. The The FNC CEO highlighted the importance of establish-
first was a comparative analysis of coffee production costs in ing strategic partnerships focused on advancing technological
different regions within Minas Gerais. It presented information developments for coffee harvesting and agronomic tasks in Co-
on productivity and cost per hectare. During the second lecture, lombia’s coffee regions.
Hernando Duque, Chief Technical Officer of the FNC, described
the FNC’s technical area and history. He also presented an over- www.federaciondecafeteros.org
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