n
n
n
Other lines
Besides the certification of coffee
farms, the CMC has other three lines
of action: Minas Gerais coffee Farm-
ing Circuit, which consists in meet-
ings of coffee farmers in micro-re-
gion hub cities, with approximately
30 meetings a year, involving tech-
nical debates on the coffee business;
Quality Contests of Minas Gerais Cof-
fees, now at its 14th annual edition;
and mapping and monitoring of the
Minas Gerais Coffee Park.
Certificationseekstoensurethe
sustainabilityofcoffeeinMinasGerais,where
bestagriculturalpracticesarethereference
T
he State of Minas Gerais has been
enacting measures intended to
strengthen and lend support to
the coffee business. One of the re-
cent initiatives is the Certify Minas
Coffee (CMC), one of the Certify Minas seg-
ments, a certification program of the govern-
ment of Minas Gerais, run by the State Sec-
retariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply
(Seapa) and its divisions: Minas Gerais Agri-
culture and Livestock Institute (IMA), Emater
MGand theMinasGeraisStateAgricultural Re-
search Company (Epamig), which also han-
dlesotherproducts,likecheeseandcachaça.
“As it is a public certification it adopted a
concept intended to make the program as
comprehensive as possible, giving access to
all coffee farmers, regardless of the size of
their farms, seeing that certification was not
yet accessible to most of them, especially to
thesmall-scalecoffeefarmers”,explains
Niw-
tonMoraes
, adviser at SeapaCoffee. “Due to
thisfact,alongwiththeperceptionthatitwas
necessary to offer something rather attrac-
tive,wasthereasonwhytheGoodAgricultural
Practices(GAP)”modelwasintroduced.
All products coming from GAP models,
have, potentially, access to the biggest glob-
almarkets.“Furthermore,asapubliccertifica-
tion,theCMCisaratheruniversalizedplatform,
andisalwaysclosetomostotherstandards,to
make it easier for the farmers to obtain a sec-
ondorthirdcertification”,Moraesargues.Con-
sequently, theCMCplays an important role as
a service supplier to society in Minas Gerais.
To make it easier to put this conception into
Coffeecertified in
MinasGerais
upwithaseriesofnotes.Currently,succession
in rural activities is a serious problemthat has
tobefaced,especiallyatfamilyfarming.
As the years went by, the program ac-
quired credibility and has been consistently
growing, totaling 1,300 certified farms in2016.
More recently, with all partnerships estab-
lishedand sales of certified coffees to relevant
international buyers, the label acquired inter-
nationalvisibilityandisbeginningtosetfootin
theforeignmarket.
n
practice, it was necessary to establish awork
structureof lowcost to thecoffee farmers, re-
sulting into the option for free technical as-
sistance, provided by Emater-MG and audits
conductedby IMA, at reasonableprices.
Another factor that was taken into con-
sideration when the programwas conceived
was the fact that it would have a remarkable
connotation of internal management of the
activity: economic sustainability. “Just like
the other certifications, which usually sta-
bilize on the pillars of environmental, social
and economic sustainability, the CMC adopt-
ed the same premises”, says Moraes. “How-
ever,itimmediatelydevelopedastrongfocus
on management, maintaining all other sus-
tainability criteria”.
This distinctive trait greatly facilitated an-
other aspect: to carry out traceability and effi-
cient management, both required for obtain-
ing the certificate, it is indispensable to come
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