ANALYSIS OF THE CONVERSION PROCESS OF CONVENTIONAL SYSTEMS TO ORGANIC COFFEE PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

This paper aims at the analysis of the economic and the political facts explaining the trajectory of the organic coffee production in Brazil. The study proceeded through a field research consisting in a series of interviews with organic coffee producers who were members of the Brazilian Organic Coffee Producers Association (ACOB). The lack of information and credit were pointed as the main barriers family farmers face to enter the organic products market. Concerning the non-family producers the main difficulty is related to the costs of labor as organic practices are more labor-intensive. Another point refers to the level productivity loss entailed by the adoption of organic practices: it was found to be positively correlated with the degree of adoption of "green revolution" practices before the conversion to organic systems. As a conclusion, it was stressed the importance of public policies favoring organic agriculture diffusion, specially those policies aimed at family farmers as they are in more need of help to start and also because are more likely to succeed with organic systems.