A habit so dear to Brazilians, drinking coffee, has undergone changes in recent times. The increase in the price of the product has led families to try to adapt, changing brands, doing price research or even reducing consumption. According to the Índice Nacional de Preços ao Consumidor Amplo (IPCA) [Broad National Consumer Price Index] released in January, the increase in the price of coffee in the last twelve months exceeded 50%. The expectation is that the price will keep on growing.

Several factors contributed to the increase in prices last year in Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee bean. There has been an increase in consumption worldwide, with Asian countries  showing greater interest in the drink , causing  the Brazilian coffee market to expand in recent years. In addition, wars around the world have influenced transportation prices. And, most importantly, the effects of climate change have depleted crops in 2024.

Drought, fires and high temperatures have caused the loss of entire plantations, reducing the quantity and quality of beans. “There is an ongoing change in the climate pattern that has led crops in different parts of the country to suffer stress and reduce their production. This combination of water and temperature stress at the time of flowering and fruit filling has harmed the 2024 harvest, which was smaller than in previous years. The number of fruits does not correspond to expectation because the coffee flowering period, which is between July and September, was the most critical for water and heat stress. This has caused scalding and damage to the flowers. Many did not open and were not fertilized,” explains agronomist Enrique Alves, from Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa) from Rondônia [Rondônia’s Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation].

ALTERNATIVES

The good news is that alternative, more sustainable cultivation systems can help Brazilian production. And many of these technologies are developed in the Amazon, producing quality coffee beans without harming the environment. “The way to remedy this is to work on sustainability. It is necessary to reduce water loss, so I have to work better on soil coverage, I have to reduce the evapotranspiration of plants, creating microclimates, leaving the soil covered. There is research underway determining more sustainable and regenerative production processes. This involves a combination of plants between the coffee rows to replenish organic matter, protect the soil, conserve water and maintain humidity in the crop. There are also integrated coffee production systems with other species and agroforestry systems, which work with a wide diversity of plants in the same location. These integrated, tree-based and agroforestry systems allow for climate protection in the production environment,” says Alves.

Amazonia stands out in coffee production

Unlike the rest of the country, which grows more Arabica coffee, the Amazon is strong in the Canephora species, which has adapted and developed better in the region. Also known as Robusta, it holds the capacity of producing more, having higher caffeine content, good development at low altitudes, greater resistance to pests and greater adaptability.

After 50 years of evolution, based on genetic improvement studies conducted by Embrapa and seeds selection by the region’s own coffee growers, the coffee known as Amazonian Robusta was created.

“They have the first Geographical Indication for sustainable Robusta coffees in the world, that of the Amazonian Robusta from Rondônia woods. It is one of the most emblematic Geographical Indications that exist today among the coffee-producing regions of the country,” explains agronomist Enrique Alves.

According to him, the species was long considered second-rate, serving only to make coffee blends cheaper, that is, a mixture of beans from different origins. Today, it is a valued and award-winning product. “The Geographical Indication of the Denomination of Origin type, obtained in 2021, certifies that it is a unique product, of differentiated quality that is related to the production environment and the producers’ know-how. Cacoal, in Rondônia, which is one of the 15 municipalities that make up the Geographical Indication, is considered the coffee capital of the Amazon. It has this notoriety due to its historical and cultural context, its know-how, and its environmental aspect, because it is produced without degrading, in preserved areas. Studies have shown that recent deforestation linked to coffee farming in the state is close to zero,” explains the agronomist.

CULTURES

Fábio Vailatti is one of the producers of Amazonian robusta in the rural district of Nova Califórnia, in Porto Velho, Rondônia. He works with organic certification and in an agroforestry system, in which he combines several other crops of economic value with coffee: cupuaçu, Brazil nuts, açaí and andiroba. “I have approximately 6,000 coffee trees and have already produced 40 bags. I use agroecological practices, biofertilizers, composting, and soil cover. I do not use any type of chemical product, herbicide or soluble fertilizers”, he says.

For Vailatti, the system brings several advantages. “For family farming, diversification of production is very important because it is an insurance against market fluctuations. Sustainability, agroecological, diversified, low-carbon practices, adding value to production, are alternatives to monoculture. The increasingly harsh climate requires new, more resilient practices that can withstand high temperatures, drier days or heavy rain. I believe that this is one of the few paths left for us”, he states.

Rondônia is the 5th largest coffee producer of the country

According to agronomist Enrique Alves, Rondônia is the fifth largest coffee producer in Brazil and the second largest producer of the canephora species, responsible for 90% of the coffee produced in the Amazon. More than 17,000 families in the state make their living from coffee.

Although there was a drop in production in 2024 and the expectation for the 2025 harvest is still a drop, the state is known for its high productivity. “Both Rondônia and the Amazon have an average of over 54 bags per hectare, which is higher, for example, than Espírito Santo, which is the largest canephora producing state in the country, which has an average of 45 bags per hectare,” points out the agronomist.

But productive success was not always like this: in addition to the hard work of coffee growers, it is the result of research and the use of sustainable technologies. “Not always were productivity rates so favorable for Amazonian coffee farming. Cultivation began in the 1970s, with a wave of migrants from regions with a tradition of coffee farming, who planted both Arabica and Canephora seedlings. But productivity was practically extractive, eight to ten bags per hectare, on average. It was from 2010 onwards that a technological revolution took place, with the spread of materials with better genetic characteristics and new production methods”, says Alves.

The cultivation of Amazonian robusta does not require large areas to generate income, because it has high productivity in small spaces. Good agronomic practices, quality clonal genetic material, more resistant to climate change; adequate spatial arrangement; irrigation; soil, nutrient and water management guarantee high production. And all this in agroforestry or integrated systems, which can involve the planting of tree-lined corridors. “These integrated systems not only have the capacity to promote a microclimate for the crop, a protection, but also fix more carbon in the plants and in the soil”, explains Alves.

Agroforest coffee benefits 115 families

Another example of sustainable Amazonian coffee production is Café Apuí Agroflorestal, produced in the municipality of Apuí, in the south of Amazonas. The crop, which had been partially abandoned, was resumed by the Amazon Conservation and Sustainable Development Institute (Idesam) in 2008. “Apuí is one of the most deforested municipalities in the Amazon, and the intention of the project was precisely to spread the idea of sustainability. There are two very strong crops in the municipality: livestock and coffee. But when we arrived, we observed that many producers had abandoned their coffee plantations because it was no longer worth it. But we realized that these abandoned coffee plantations, with the weeds growing around them, in the shade, were producing better than those planted only in the sun,” says Jonatas Machado, commercial director of Amazônia Florestal, a company created from the initiative, as a spin-off of Idesam.

Given the reality observed at the time, the Idesam team launched a project and in 2015 began to encourage the cultivation of coffee in agroforestry, planted alongside species that are native to the region, from inga, which provides shade, to timber species such as rubber, jatobá or mahogany, or fruit trees such as açaí and cocoa. “In addition to providing shade and improving the coffee, this promoted the regeneration of that system,” says Machado.

Today, around 115 families are partnering with the project, with over 230 hectares of agroforestry coffee planted. Since 2017, over 130 tons have been produced. Last year, 30 tons were produced, but the expectation for this year is to double the amount, due to the new plantations that will provide their first production.

SUPPORT

The company Amazônia Agroflorestal was created in 2019 to boost the project, helping producers purchase inputs and transport their produce. “The Amazon is on the rise and our product is regenerative, completely sustainable. Every hectare of coffee planted is a regenerated hectare. This is how we seek to differentiate ourselves: as coffee from the Amazon, 100% robusta,” says Machado.

The director also highlights the quality of the product. “We have hired a quality consultancy and one of our producers has already managed to be among the 30 best coffees in Brazil in the Coffee of the Year championship”, celebrates the director.

According to Machado, the project has completely changed the reality of local producers because the company is able to advance 50% of the payment so that they can invest in cultivation and harvesting, and also because it guarantees the purchase of the production. “In addition, we pay 20% more than the market value for agroforestry production, for quality, for organic certification,” he emphasizes.

Producer Ronaldo Moraes confirms the advantages of participating in the project. “It helped a lot. We sell coffee above the market price, and we have the organic seal, which has added value. There are companies that don’t buy traditional coffee, but they guarantee the purchase of our agroforestry coffee,” he points out.

The coffee farmer also shows his commitment to preservation. “With this coffee plantation, we don’t deforest: we go to areas that are already degraded and recover them. We work so we can live better, thinking ahead, about the future. Because we are getting older, so what will the young people who are coming up survive on?” he asks, reflecting on the need to invest in sustainability.

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The production of Liberal Amazon is one of the initiatives of the Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Liberal Group and the Federal University of Pará. The articles involving research from UFPA are revised by professionals from the academy. The translation of the content is also provided by the agreement, through the research project ET-Multi: Translation Studies: multifaces and multisemiotics.