Café do Cerrado announce their commitment to Rainforest Alliance Certification
IMAFLORA NEWSLETTER www.imaflora.org
Café do Cerrado announce their commitment to
Rainforest Alliance Certification
06/10/2008
Brazil, October 2008 – The Cerrado Coffee Producers' Association Council CACCER (Conselho das Associações dos Cafeicultores do Cerrado), the organization made 20up by the Associations and Cooperatives of the Cerrado Region coffee producers, has announced its commitment to the Sustainable Agriculture Network Standards (Rainforest Alliance Certified).
In 2005 the region known as the Cerrado Mineiro was formally recognized as a geographical area specializing in the production of high quality coffee, in the same fashion as wine producing regions in Europe. In addition, having established its own certification of origin system, Cerrado Coffee has its quality guaranteed by SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America).
The great advantage of this commitment is that coffee buyers will now be able to buy a high quality product, from known sources and certified by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (Rainforest Alliance Certified), which ensures that its production has followed adequate economic, environmental and social criteria. Eduardo Trevisan, Imaflora's coffee coordinator, estimates that within five years approximately one million 60 kg-coffee bags will be certified according to the Cerrado/Rainforest Alliance.
The Cerrado Region is one of Brazil's richest ecosystems in biodiversity and at the same time most threatened. In addition, the Cerrado Mineiro, i. e., its portion lying within the state of Minas Gerais, has traditionally been known as an excellent area for the production of fine coffee. Approximately 15,000 rural workers of coffee farms that have been certified in this region according to the Sustainable Agriculture Network (Rainforest Alliance Certified) will benefit from the advanced social standards of this system; in addition, certification will ensure the conservation of about 25,000 hectares of native vegetation.
A three-party technical cooperation agreement - involving IMAFLORA (Institute for Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification), and the Cerrado Coffee System - will bring new market opportunities and ensure social and environmental benefits. The objective of this technical cooperation program is to provide training in agricultural certification to Educampo extensionists by SEBRAE (Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises), so that it can be applied by producer groups.
Educampo is a program maintained by SEBRAE that offers training and capacity building to groups of rural producers in the areas of farm management and technology, making them more efficient and competitive.
For additional information, please, visit our web page (www.imaflora.org) or contact us by phone [+55 (19) 3414-4015] or by e-mail (imaflora@imaflora.org).
Imaflora (Institute for Agricultural and Forest Management and Certification) is a Brazilian non-profit organization established in 1995 to promote the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and to promote social benefits in the agricultural and forest sectors.
The Sustainable Agriculture Network is a coalition of conservation NGOs that links responsible producers to environmentally aware consumers through the Rainforest Alliance Certified label.
