Small producers unite to grow in the post-pandemic

High in fertilizers, expensive diesel, stoppage of purchases in the most difficult months of the pandemic, uncertainty about planting and marketing. In the last two years, this was the context of the family farmers interviewed by the sheet.

Among them, there is a consensus that being part of an association or cooperative made all the difference in this difficult period.

They were able to obtain discounts on collective purchases of inputs or contracting of service providers, as well as guaranteeing direct access to customers willing to pay more for the social or environmental aspect of production.

The option for associativism is important, they say, even when rising prices make the headlines, giving the impression that all is well with rural producers. So says Vânia Lúcia Pereira, president of Coopfam (Cooperative of Family Farmers of Poço Fundo) and producer of organic coffee.

“We found that it was better not to have been discharged because the impact [do aumento dos custos] was much higher, more than doubled in the case of conventional coffee producers”, says the president of Coopfam, today with 540 participants and an average cultivated area of ​​20 hectares.

The association felt the impact of costs last November, at the time of the last fertilization for this year’s crop.

“In addition to collective purchases, when we get discounts, we improve the margin because we export directly, and before we exported through trading,” says Vânia.

About 95% of the 80,000 bags produced annually go outside the country, in a marketing scheme known as fair trade.

They are customers from Germany, USA, Australia, Japan, among other countries. “Fair trade guarantees the minimum price. Until 2020, producers had a premium of R$ 100 to R$ 200 per bag, which serves as a guarantee for periods when the price drops”, says Vânia.

In order to have access to the fair trade certificate, it is necessary to certify that the coffee is produced under suitable conditions for family producers.

Members also benefit from technical assistance and reduced storage and input expenses. The cooperative has a roasting plant, for retail sale with its own brand.

With a property of two hectares (20 thousand square meters), at an altitude of 1,300 meters, in Piatã (BA), in Chapada Diamantina, the couple Deuseni and Giliarde de Oliveira buy fertilizers and bags through Coopiatã (Cooperativa de Cafés Especiais and Piatã Agriculture).

With the support, they were awarded in two competitions. “The awards were very important, they started coming to visit us to get to know the coffee”, says Deuseni.

They exported to Japan and England, in addition to improving profitability by selling to a coffee shop in Brasília and to another partner in Salvador.

But now Deuseni worries about the possibility of prices falling. “Coffee went up a lot, but so did the fertilizer. What if the coffee goes down, but the fertilizer doesn’t?”

Producing in São Roque de Minas (MG), Ivair José de Oliveira runs the Canastra cheese production with his wife, Lúcia. He also counted on his daughter in the pandemic.

In early 2022, it saw sales fall by half.

“The margin dropped a lot because it was not possible to pass on the increase in costs”, says Ivair, who since January runs the Aprocan (Association of Canastra Cheese Producers).

He believes that, as a producer, one of the advantages of the association is the veterinary consultancy to maintain the health of the herd. Another was the visibility when its cheese was awarded in France in 2019.

The way to Paris, he says, was only possible because of the support. “Aprocan helps in the legalization of production, in addition to partnerships with Sebrae to participate in fairs”, he says.

He also took courses in handling dairy cattle at the association, where he buys packaging and rennet.
Today with 68 associates and production of 2,000 pieces a day, Aprocan, says Ivair, helped maintain the good reputation of Canastra cheese.

On the coast of Alagoas, the change in the business environment took place with the initial support of the Spanish government, the government of Alagoas and Sebrae (Brazilian Service to Support Micro and Small Enterprises) of Alagoas, in a project called Depuradas Oysters. The work involves around one hundred families in five fishing communities.

Coordinated by the IABS (Brazilian Institute for Development and Sustainability), one of the objectives of the initiative was to provide conditions for producers to improve health safety.

In addition to PVC tables for oyster cultivation, an initiative by Sebrae Alagoas, the IABS coordinated the installation of a purifier to eliminate the risk of infection.

Project participant Maria Sebastiana da Conceição, owner of Bastinha from the Palatéia community, in Barra de São Miguel (AL), remembers that, without purification, oysters would be sold on beaches at a lower price.

“The situation improved when our association started to cultivate them, and then with the IABS buying and depurating our oysters”, says Sebastiana. “With this, we can sell in São Paulo and other places because it is a healthy oyster. We need these partnerships, without them it is difficult”, she says.

In the case of the production of white and naturally colored organic cotton, in Remígio (PE), in the Queimadas settlement, José Sinésio da Silva has had French buyers in recent years.

Today, 140 producers produce in association, through the Borborema Agroecology Network, in eight cities in the region. They export most of the 300 tons per year to France. Since the end of 2021, they have also been sent to a textile industry in São Paulo.

“We sell organic cotton for almost twice the price of conventional cotton, and a little more than that in the case of naturally colored organic”, says Silva.

Developed by Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária), naturally colored cotton started to be produced by Silva in 2004, still representing a small portion of production.