Sustentabilidade em propriedades familiares produtoras de café especial da região nordeste paulista por meio do método ISA

Abstract

Currently, there are several methodologies that allow qualifying and quantifying sustainability in agricultural production units (APUs). Studying and evaluating sustainability in rural properties is becoming a necessity for producers, who seek to differentiate their production and add value to it. Many producers are adopting sustainable practices in the production, preparation and marketing of coffee, but many do not know how to measure sustainability. In this context, the present study had the objective of characterizing and evaluating sustainability in family farms producing special coffee in the Northeast region of São Paulo, through the application of the ISA method (Indicators of Sustainability of Agroecosystems) that was developed by EMATER-MG. This study was carried out in nine agricultural production units of specialty coffee in the municipalities of São Sebastião da Grama, Divinolândia and Caconde, providing an understanding of local sustainability and also the detailing of the proposed indicators. This method allows a dialogue between the interviewer and the producer, and provides a reflection of the real situation of the production unit about its sustainability. The method generates a final index of sustainability for the production unit and seven subindexes, from the average of 23 indicators that analyze the social, economic and environmental conditions of the property. About the results of the sustainability indexes of this study, only one of the nine units did not reach the sustainability threshold established by the method that is 0.70. The sustainability index by municipality, calculated by the average of the production units under study, was 0.73, 0.71 and 0.73 for São Sebastião da Grama, Divinolândia and Caconde, respectively. Meanwhile, the sustainability average index of the three municipalities that represent the Northeast region of São Paulo was 0.72.