Sustainability assessment of coffee production in Brazil.

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the sustainability of coffee production in Brazil by a framework at the farm level. The framework developed comprises four dimensions of sustainability structured from the literature review. Primary data were collected from 20 coffee farms selected from the most producing communities in the Planalto de Vitória da Conquista locality, sited in Centro-Sul Baiano middle region at the Bahia state. The main environmental issues identified related to coffee farmers are inadequate management of water consumption, influenced by the lack of knowledge about irrigation techniques in some cases, and the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The economic evaluation of the activity revealed a low index of producers belonging to a class organization. In social aspects the issues are low level of technical/technological instruction for coffee producers, temporary workers are often used, the old age of most producers, the lack of family succession for the activity, low incomes, the high number of temporary workers, and the absence of the worker gains. As for the technical dimension, only half of the farmers invest in innovation, which causes high obsolescence of their equipment and machinery and a low participation rate in training courses. In the environmental dimension, the farmers return the packages of pesticides to the stores where they bought them. In the technical dimension, most farmers perform soil analysis. Besides addressing the identified challenges, the initiatives can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the 9th, 12th, and 13th.