Summary by Helga Andrade, IWCA Brasil

The IWCA Brasil Chapter and several subchapters began the week of World Coffee Producer’s Forum with the agronomic basics. We met the researcher Sergio Parreiras Pereira in a visit to Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC), the world's largest coffee germplasm bank. The visit was conduced together with Dona Ivone, a strong women in her 88 years, who worked for 65 years at IAC handling the first experimental fields in Brasil.

The World Coffee Producer’s Forum (Campinas, Brasil. July 10-11, 2019) gathered men and women to think together about how to solve the main problems faced by coffee producers in the recent years. Representatives from producing countries including Asia, Africa and the Americas were divided into four workshop groups, each of them focused on an important matter for the coffee chain: economic sustainability; market mechanisms to protect incomes; coffee price formulation; and consumption promotion.

One of the points showcased by PhD. Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia University), the keynote speaker, was the importance of observing the 5th Sustainable Development Goal: Gender Equity, in order to guarantee a sustainable future for coffee production. The event counted with important women as speakers: Vanusia Nogueira (BSCA), Ana Illy (Illy Cafe), Phyllis Johnson (BD Imports), Sarah Mason (Shift/ID Coffees), Annette Pensel (Global Coffee Platform), and Patricia Carvalho (3corações). Carvalho presented the case of Florada, a contest for women producers developed by 3corações and supported by IWCA Brasil, which was awarded the Prize ODS 2019 by United Nations.

The IWCA Brasil board, together with representatives from different subchapters and producing regions (Cerrado Mineiro, Mantiqueira de Minas, Campo das Vertentes, Sul de Minas, São Paulo) contributed during the workshops to develop insights for the future of the coffee supply chain. World Coffee Producer’s Forum Speaker Phyllis Johnson recognized the work of IWCA Brasil to mobilize and empower women in the country: "Women can do incredible things", she stated.

Photos from throughout the week, shared by Helga Andrade of IWCA Brasil, and Josiane Cotrim, IWCA Global Organization Strategic Advisor.

About “Visibility & Voice”

The IWCA Global Organization provides a platform to amplify the visibility and voice of women in coffee. In this post, Helga Andrade of IWCA Brasil shares a brief recap of last week’s World Coffee Producer’s Forum held in Campinas, Brasil. To see & hear more, please join our social media channels (links at the bottom of this website) or connect directly IWCA Chapter leaders, from our network of 24 countries, via: www.womenincoffee.org/chapters-1.