Robusta coffee becomes alternative for São Paulo agriculture
Valor Econômico 07/22/10
Entrepreneurs of the coffee segment and also of other business areas have decided to increase investments in the production of the grain. The State of São Paulo was chosen for the undertaking and, this time, the bet is in the Robusta variety, which is still unknown by the agriculture of São Paulo, and it is intended mainly for the production of instant coffee. São Paulo is third largest Brazilian coffee producer, behind Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, but it only produces the Arabica variety. The interest of the entrepreneurs in introducing a new variety in São Paulo is due, mainly, to the perspective of better profitability of the product. Preliminary data from the Department of Agriculture of São Paulo shows the production of Robusta coffee offers profitability 20% to 30% higher than the Arabica, even at a price 45% lower than that of the nobler variety. The lower cost and high productivity justify the investment in the planting in lands of São Paulo.With the experience of having been a shareholder of Café do Ponto, sold to Sara Lee, and afterwards, President of the American multinational until 2005, Luiz Roberto Gonçalves is one of the entrepreneurs who believe in the development of the Robusta in São Paulo. Current Vice-President of the Commercial Association of São Paulo, Gonçalves is cultivating, together with five other producers, 10 hectares of the variety in an experimental mode in the region of Lins, in northwest of the State of São Paulo. The city has already been important in the production of beef cattle and is the birthplace of the slaughterhouse Bertin, sold last year to JBS. Nearly 25 thousand seedlings of coffee were planted in September 2009 in the region of Lins and the first blossoming will take place this winter. The expectation is that the first harvest of the region takes place in the second half of 2011.
Edvaldo Frasson Teixeira, one of the owners of Treviolo Café, a company that already operates in the production of the grain and has a chain of cafés with the same name and also makes espresso machines is another one who believes in the change of the coffee planting in São Paulo. Teixeira took the variety to a property in Adamantina, municipality near the border with Mato Grosso do Sul, where he planted 17 thousand trees in nearly 6 hectares. Regarding the producer of Arabica coffee in Matão - a region strong in sugar cane and orange -, the entrepreneur Pedro Moreira Salles, Chairman of the Board of Itaú-Unibanco, he is also investing in the planting of Robusta is his property.
The project of introduction of the Robusta variety in São Paulo is being coordinated by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC). Data of the Institute indicate the cultivation of Robusta in São Paulo is economically viable. Besides the increased productivity and lower cost of the Robusta, there are 250 roasters and three soluble coffee industries installed the State, which absorb nearly 7 million bags a year. The clones being cultivated in São Paulo were chosen and brought from Espirito Santo by the ICA. The body has a germplasm bank of the Robusta, fruit of a work carried out in the past by researchers of the Institute.
"Despite having less value than the Arabica, the cost of production of the Robusta is much lower. With that, the production of such a variety becomes an alternative to the cultures of sugar cane, orange and cattle, mainly for the smaller properties", states João Sampaio, Secretary of Agriculture of São Paulo. While the production of the Robusta coffee is not consolidated in São Paulo, the State follows as the third State in the national production, planning to harvest 4.35 million bags in 2010, according to the last estimate of the National Food Supply Company (Conab). The Brazilian offer for this year is estimated at 47.1 million bags of coffee, 35.3 million of which will be of Arabica and 11.7 million, of Robusta.