Diagnóstico, potencialidade e restrições para o desenvolvimento de indicação geográfica do café na região da Chapada Diamantina - Bahia

Abstract

Coffee cultivation is of great importance in the world and Brazilian economy. The Chapada Diamantina region was chosen for the study due to its national and international notoriety for the quality production of gourmet and specialty coffees. The objective of this research was to present the diagnosis, potentiality and restrictions for the development of Geographical Indication of coffee in the region of Chapada Diamantina - Bahia. The research has an exploratory character, a qualitative approach, with data collection through bibliographical and documental survey, interviews with the main coffee stakeholders in the region and technical visit. The methodology used was the Virtuous Circle of Quality linked to Origin, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), having an innovative characteristic for this production chain. Worldwide, it was found that the most commercialized coffees are Arabica and Robusta. The biggest producers are: Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia. Production improvements are being implemented to meet the market demand for quality products with origin certifications. Geographical Indications (GIs) value territorial products and services of differentiated quality. There are 126 GIs registered for coffee, the majority by specific protection legislation (sui generis) and others by trademarks. Indonesia has the highest number of GIs for coffee in the world, followed by Brazil. In Brazil, the definition of GI is explained by its species, Indication of Origin (IP) and Denomination of Origin (DO). The state of Bahia is the fourth largest coffee producer in Brazil. Public policies in the state were encouraged to strengthen productive chains. One of these policies was the Bahia Productiva Project. It was noticed that the actions of this project reached associations and cooperatives in potential regions for new GIs in the state, providing farmers with inclusion in the market, adding value, expanding the scale of production and strengthening production chains, including coffee. One of the regions contemplated by the project was Chapada Diamantina and it was found that some municipalities in this region have human and edaphoclimatic factors, providing a quality product and peculiar characteristics, so the GI modality to be required is the Denomination of Origin (DO ). It was observed as potential that coffees have market potential, notoriety and great socioeconomic importance, for small, medium, large producers and local roasters. There is standardization of products, own brands, adequate packaging, and collective representation of producers, the Alliance of Coffee Growers of Chapada Diamantina (ACCD). One of the main constraints concerns public policies to strengthen the production chain, to help the logistics and product marketing processes. In this sense, the GI's relationship with other sectors of the regional economy does not occur autonomously, but with the contribution of civil society and actors of the ecosystem that are part of the object of the Geographical Indication.