Taza Dorada FLC Category Winner - Fairtrade Ref 1011

NAME: Associação dos Productores do Alto da Serra
CONTACT: [email protected]
FLO ID 29097
Fairtrade certified since 2013
Number of members 69

INTRODUCTION
The Associação dos Productores do Alto da Serra, also known as APAS, is located in
the district of Ferreiras, municipality of São Gonçalo do Sapucaí, in the region of
Mantiqueira de Minas Gerais. It was founded in 2006 when a coffee grower named
Divaldi Betoni, the first president of the association, expressed the wish that the
producers organize themselves and work collectively, in order to value the coffee;
improve product quality and increase the profitability of production to achieve a
better quality of life for families and the community.
In 2012, faced with the challenge of generating financial conditions to work on the
projects for the associates, the association knows the Fairtrade certification and in
2013, with the support of SEBRAE and Emater, Apas was certified, further
strengthening the group. Currently, the organization has 69 associates and continues
to grow every day, building its history based on the improvement of life and
development of its members.

COFFEE PRODUCTION
The production of Apas is carried out 95% by family labour, the drying process of the
coffees is done naturally in the sun, also in patios or greenhouses and through
dryers. The storage and processing of the coffees are carried out in a warehouse
contracted by the organization, 100% tracked.

Apas has always worked to encourage its members in the search for quality, since it
understands that in this way the small producer manages to stay in the agricultural
activity with good living conditions. The organization also encourages its partner to
reduce the use of agrochemicals, through the association with the Senar, giving
courses and conferences on the subject. The result of all this work, culminated in the
organic coffee project implemented since 2016 and that today has 5 producers with
organic certification.

BENEFITS OF FAIRTRADE
The organization invests the Fairtrade Premium in important areas such as
improving the quality and productivity of coffee, investments in the administrative
and operational area, in addition to offering producers training. Environmental and
social projects have been developed, improvements in the area of
commercialization, participation in national and international events and without
doubt the improvement of the quality of life of the associates.
QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY
With the aim of allowing the producer to know the quality of his coffee and make
more accurate decisions regarding the marketing of his product, Apas started in
2014 the Specialty Coffees project that has benefited all the producers with the
construction and equipment of a laboratory for sensory analysis and classification of
coffees; courses and conferences on quality and post-harvest were carried out, in
addition to the expansion of the micro-lot project that is currently being developed
by 15 producers.

ENVIRONMENT
With the investment of the Fairtrade Premium the organization has implemented
since 2017 with the support of the State School of Ferreiras and its students the
Clean Community project. The objective is to raise awareness among the population
of the community, mainly young people and children of the school, about the
importance of recycling and the proper disposal of garbage. With the recourse of the
award and the support of local entities, garbage collectors were installed throughout
the community. The project has the participation of 175 students and benefits
approximately 1000 people through garbage collection. The next step is to generate
income for the community and the school, from the sale of collected recyclable
materials.

The Aguas da Serra project began in 2015 with the aim of improving the health,
hygiene and environmental conditions of the farmers in the field. In the initial phase,
courses and trainings were promoted with 24 participating producers. After this
stage, Apas paid for the material for the installation of septic tanks for 18 families of
producers and also for the recovery and protection of 7 water sources, benefiting 20
families for each protected water source and a total of 140 people of all the rural
community involved.