Jequitinhonha: Children join their parents to make noble coffee – 11/12/2023 – Market

On a farm, the son who spent five years in Japan is now preparing to take care of the coffee roasting. In another, the daughter who worked at a multinational in São Paulo now takes care of specialty coffees and is a strong negotiator. On a third farm, the son who had a company in one of the largest cities in Minas Gerais sold it and dedicated himself entirely to coffee crops.

After small and large producers saw a rural exodus in their families in the Jequitinhonha Valley (MG), historically one of the poorest regions in the country, the good coffee scenario in recent years has led to children returning and taking on important positions in the coffee production cycle. coffee production, how to improve quality, produce more specialty coffees and create new businesses in the field.

Despite the current low production compared to the past harvest and worse prices for a 60-kilo bag, agricultural culture is seen as a strong and promising income distribution. A bag, which sold for R$1,500 last year, currently ranges between R$800 and R$850.

Eder Nakamura, 34, who worked at a Toyota unit in Japan for five years, returned, amid the pandemic, to small José Gonçalves de Minas (MG), a town with just 3,969 inhabitants, to help his parents, Elvia and Cláudio Nakamura, to write new chapters of a story that began in the 1980s.

At the time, Claudio, who lived in Londrina (PR), was one of the farmers who risked leaving Paraná and São Paulo to venture into Jequitinhonha, occupying an area divided into 20 small plots. There was no asphalt to the city, you had to travel 250 kilometers on dirt roads.

“When you’re young, everyone has their plans and dreams and his was always to have a piece of land”, said Elvia, who left a job at Infraero (a state-owned airport) to produce coffee in a land where it rained little and in the middle of to uncertainties.

It wasn’t easy at all, according to Claudio, who started the first harvest, in 1986, with 8 hectares — today there are 62 in production.

“Of those who came, only me was left. The cafe was upstairs [preço], many planted, but when it came to harvesting the price was low. I didn’t even pay the cost, it was unsustainable. Many left.”

He stated that he managed to support himself with the help of his family, making charcoal in permitted areas and insisting on coffee farming, until he saw the business accelerate in recent years, with special coffees and the return of his son.

In 2022, it produced 2,500 bags, of which around 80% were specialty coffees, which reach scores above 80 points on a scale of 100 and which cost more than twice as much as regular coffees.

Not even the drop in this year’s harvest (800 bags) caused by the biennial nature of the crop (one year produces more and the next, less) and weather problems (unseasonal drought and rain at harvest) prevented Eder from putting into practice a project on the farm: build a roasting plant.

“The building is ready and I believe that next month everything will be in order [para funcionar] and in activity for the next harvest”, said Eder about his proposal to gain scale in production.

In addition to planting and harvesting, now the family will also have the coffee ready to be sent directly to the consumer market, which will mean more income.

In the same city, producer Gilson Pereira da Silva, 46, from the Oda farm —whose name was given by a Japanese man who was also a pioneer in the region and maintained by the new owner—, now has the help of a son who had followed a similar route to his in the past.

“I went to São Paulo to work on construction sites, came back and fell into agriculture, but I saw possibilities.” His son migrated to Jaguariúna (SP), where for two years he produced bread for fast-food chains, until he decided to return to work in the field.

Today with 10 hectares in production, the family has already planted seedlings in another 2, on a property with a total area of ​​40.

“[A cafeicultura] It is one of the activities we have in the region with the greatest potential for generating wealth and attracting these people to return. Few activities developed in this part of Minas have the capacity to do this”, said Julian Rodrigues, Sebrae analyst responsible for the Chapada de Minas microregion, formed by 22 municipalities, including Capelinha, Leme do Prado, Minas Novas and Diamantina.

The area brings together 5,800 producers and 20,000 workers, responsible for an average production of 600,000 bags per harvest — five years ago, data from the ICCM (Instituto do Café da Chapada de Minas) pointed to around 400,000 bags.

According to the analyst, the region is lacking in labor and does not have the energy or logistics matrix to be a large industrial hub, which means that economic development is only possible when what already exists is well done and generates income.

PROFESSIONALIZATION

150 kilometers from José Gonçalves de Minas, the Alvorada farm, in Capelinha, was reinforced by Raquel Meirelles, 32, daughter of rural producer Sérgio Meirelles Filho, 63, to manage the coffee brands Aranãs, Resplendor and Varietal — the last dedicated to specialty coffees.

She, who worked in coffee marketing at a multinational in São Paulo, returned with a focus on her specialization and stated that she negotiates her lots without worrying about the day’s coffee price.

“We don’t look at the stock market. People say: ‘Ah, coffee has fallen’. I respond that I don’t trade the stock market, that my value is not linked to that […] Today I start the price of my coffee at R$2,000 per bag, and I have coffee that I sell for R$5,000 per bag”, he stated.

She said that the world of premium coffees requires high quality and independence in relation to external factors when determining the price. “It’s no use [nesse mercado] If I have coffee with 81, 82 points, I need to have it above 86, 87, 90”, he said.

Meirelles stated that he arrived in the region in 1979 escaping the cold, because of the frost that hit the region of Varginha (MG) that year, where the family also has a farm.

With 93 hectares in production, Alvorada does not suffer from this problem, but, like other properties, it faced drought.

Production in the last harvest was 22 bags per hectare. “It’s reasonable for the region, but it’s bad […] That’s why we’re investing in irrigation.” Despite this, in the recently ended harvest, 20% of the harvest resulted in specialty coffees, according to Meirelles and Raquel.

Like them, Ulisses Godinho is also investing in the Poço Dantas farm, in Capelinha, following in the family footsteps.

He, who managed a transport company in Governador Valadares (MG), sold the business and began dedicating himself full time to the rural property, which has 65 hectares in production.

Among the changes adopted are the mechanization of processes and improvements to the coffee yard — which, made of dirt, was cemented.

Also a producer of specialty coffees, Godinho says that the business started in 2005 and, until 2019, was managed by a manager.

“My father came here, he started staying here more. The pandemic came, transport stopped, I came here […] I focused on the coffee, I liked it. We managed to professionalize well.”

After seeing production reach 5,000 bags in 2020, of which 20% were special, he said he had no doubts about the ideal scenario for the sector in the coming years. “The future is certified coffee, the future is specialty coffee. Everyone will start demanding it.”

BARGAINING POWER

Sebrae, says the analyst, works with coffee growers with governance and origin valuing actions, such as the creation of the ICCM, in 2018, and the launch of a collective brand, the following year.

The institute, which received more than 400 coffee samples for analysis in the last harvest, aims to be a guide for business and assist coffee growers, according to food engineer Ednéia Lordeiro, ICCM executive.

“It’s support for the producer. With the institute’s report, he has more bargaining power with buyers,” he said.