Field Day in Zona da Mata presents the first results of the project that evaluates new coffee cultivars for Minas Gerais

(Belo Horizonte – 1/4/2024) The Agricultural Research Company of Minas Gerais (EPAMIG) and Embrapa Café will hold next Saturday, April 6, the field day “Arabica Coffee Cultivars for the Matas de Minas region ”. The event, in partnership with the Faemg/Senar System, takes place from 8 am, at the Armendane site, in the municipality of Vermelho Novo.

On the occasion, researchers from EPAMIG Gladyston Carvalho and Vinícius Andrade and Embrapa Café André Dominghetti and Guilherme Abreu, will present harvest estimates and the productive potential of the Demonstration Unit, implemented on the property. The area is part of the project that evaluates the performance of new coffee cultivars in different producing regions of the State.

“These are the first days in the field with the plants in the production phase, with coffee on the tree. We have already held a meeting in São Roque de Minas, in the Serra da Canastra region, on February 28th, and we have another three planned. The proposal is that over the four years of validity, we will carry out field days in each of the regions involved”, informs EPAMIG researcher, Gladyston Carvalho, project coordinator.

Places are limited and registrations must be made directly with the technician of the Technical and Management Assistance Program – ATeG of the Faemg System, Kênia Barbosa, by telephone (33) 99979-2806.

Regionalized cultivars

The project “Validation of coffee cultivars and transfer of technologies to the coffee growing regions of Minas Gerais”, has financial support from Fapemig/ State Secretariat for Economic Development (Headquarters) and the Coffee Research Consortium. The work, carried out in partnership between EPAMIG and Embrapa Café, seeks to identify coffee varieties most suitable for the different climate, soil and relief conditions present in the State.

“It is very difficult to recommend a new cultivar, due to several factors. There is not a single coffee farm in Minas Gerais, there are several. So, we have to test in several environments, for a few harvests before making a recommendation. And, in this format of Demonstration Units, validation takes place with the participation of producers, who monitor the performance and evolution of the plants in the real conditions of the property, with the management they already use”, explains Gladyston Carvalho.

The demonstration units implemented in municipalities in the South, Southwest, West, Campo das Vertentes, Zona da Mata, Vale do Rio Doce, Vale do Jequitinhonha, North, Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba regions, between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, are in the production phase. And, right now, researchers are carrying out technological tours and field days to present and evaluate the first results.