Learn how women work in the cerrado coffee plantation

“University teacher 
makes interesting analysis 
of the coffee grower woman 
and says: “ The work 
of each persons is 
according to property”.

The highlight of the month in the production of coffee is: Raquel Soares

Raquel is university teacher in the áreas of business Administrration. In the area of ​​people management  it in rural áreas. For 4 years Raquel has been leding research in the agribusiness área, and  recently in coffee-growing.

The site MAS- Women Farmers of Success, has the objective of valorizing the women on Agribusiness, in diferente business functions. To show the importante work,  We interviewed Raquel Soares.

1) Share with us your personal and professional history, where you studied and where you work today?  

I was born in Carmo do Paranaíba, I lived there until at least 14 years of age, with my parentes and my brothers, after that i moved to Uberaba for study. Was a period of much learning, I was very young and lived with my cousins ​​and my brother, Our objective was only to study. I was approved in the college entrance examination for business administration at USP, And I graduated in 2004. I was an excellent student, I did internship and worked in Ribeirão and region, I soon realized that I enjoyed teaching, But when I finished college, I went to work in companies, I went to trainee in  a multinational in São Paulo, because I wanted to market before I started teaching. I decided to go back to school when I moved to Uberlândia, Where I did my master's degree, in administration in UFU at  uberlandia from 2006 to 2007. The following year, I began to teach in college and in graduate studies in Business Administration, and I realized that this was my choice, in 2008 I started my doctorate at UFMG, in 2009 I was approved to teach in  UFV in Rio Paranaíba, where I am until today. After 10 years of studies, I went back to Carmo do Paranáiba, where I live with my husband who is a coffee farmer and with my two daughters, but I travel almost every day to Rio Paranaíba, where I am a teacher on UFV, I have No doubts about the choices I made.

With Ana Maria Menezes,
coffee grower, my mother-in-law,
and Cíntia Matos, Vice-President
of IWCA-Brazil, at the Coffee
Women's Meeting promoted by
Assocafé in Carmo
do Paranaíba, in 2015

2)  What's it like teaching in the coffee-growing area?

My focus is administration, people management. The  Alto Paranaíba is very developed in agriculture. Because of this I do projects in the rural area. In the last two years, I am working with people management in the coffee field through the Educampo Programo f the “Assocafé” in Carmo do Paraníba.  I've been doing agribusiness research for more than 4 years, specifically in coffee growing. I am part of the IWCA-Brasil of the Cerrado Mineiro group.

3)  How is your project of insertion and registration of women in the coffee market?

My involvement with the project was through a friend in the UFV, who got to know the work of the IWCA-Brasil in 2012, when the group was being formed during an event of the DNA Café Brasil, in São Paulo. My mother-in-law was also present at that event, which was appointed by SEBRAE to represent the Cerrado Mineiro at this meeting. As I already had a research project on Women in Agribusiness, with resources from CNPQ in Minas Gerais I was invited to participate in the IWCA. For there are almost no studies on women in agribusiness and there are still studies abroad saying there are almost no women in agribusiness, a IWCA-Brasil is trying to change that opinion by showing that there are women in agribusiness and they have a very important mission. This is why we have united several institutions like EMBRAPA, EMATER, SENAR, IFES, And we began a survey through online and face-to-face questionnaire in several coffee regions that there are women in coffee-growing. This study gave rise to the first edition of the book "coffee women in Brazil" which has 18 chapters and the book will be presented at the Latin American Coffee Convention in Puebla, Mexico, from August 3 to 5, Where the IWCA international convention will also take place. In the book there are two chapters that talk about the women of the Cerrado of Minas Gerais, written by me together with UFV-CRP students.

With a group of Researchers
and Directors of IWCA Brasil
in Belo Horizonte, during a meeting
on the book Women of Coffee
in Brazil, in April 2017.
From left to right: Renata,
from Embrapa Rondônia, Brígida Salgado,
President of IWCA- Brazil,
Silvana Novais, from SENAR Regional
Matas de Minas, Danielle BESES Bom
Sucesso, Nicole Goldeberth, Solidaridad
Network, Fábio Salgado, UFV-Viçosa,
Helena Alves, Embrapa and Epamig
de Lavras, Cristina Arzabe, Embrapa
Café Brasília, Alexandre , Embrapa
Café Brasília, Everlyn, Paraná and
Raquel Menezes, from UFV-Rio Paranaíba.

4) What is the role of women in coffee growing, especially in the cerrado region? 

Women play a variety of roles, but they depend heavily on the ownership and organization in which they work. In smaller properties, we find women who produce, from planting to post-harvest, but almost do not participate in the commercialization. In medium and large farms, there are more women who participate in costs and  planning, some organize the certification part. In the farms offices it is also common to find women in the accounting and financial area. There are still those who own the farm working with the Family. Another important role is women who work directly in cultures. The rationale is that women are more meticulous and careful than men, so they are even hired to run machines. Women who work in cooperatives are also indispensable because they help make important decisions.

5) How do you see yourself as a woman who stands out in the cultivation of coffee and academic life as a teacher? 

I do not know if I stand out...(laughs). I'd rather be content with the “Silent revolution” was the name given to this movement of women in world coffee production by the Ernesto Illy Foundation. It's as if one said to the other: “you can”. This is the first step to being powerful this sometimes frighten men, but we seek to work in the same way without leaving our differences aside. When women become aware of their important role, receive recognition from others, but it is also essential that they recognize themselves as important. This idea that the institutions like the ONU defend, equality of genres.

With a group of Women Representatives
of the Coffee Production Chain, in Patrocínio,
 during Round Table held at the Technology
and Innovation Meeting promoted by
EPAMIG and the Federation of
Coffee Growers of the Cerrado Mineiro
Region, in April 2016

6) How can women be more and more present in agribusiness?

What drives them to be more present in this environment, is the qualification they seek. Higher education is not always easy, but in recent years the number of women with higher education has grown, even in more technical areas such as agronomy, the gender gap is gradually decreasing. But even when women get the diploma , there is still prejudice in areas that deal directly with production, but even women with less schooling are always willing to participate in courses and training offered by cooperatives and other entities. In the north of Paraná and in the forests of Minas, what is seen are these women taking to society what they learn in these courses, influencing other women to seek more information as well. Therefore, women are responsible for disseminating innovation and improving the sustainability of coffee cultivation.

7) Would you like to comment on anything else about your work? 

When I started this work, I did not know the direction he was going to take, since these are a few years dedicated to this, There was some progress, it awakened some people in the issues involving women in coffee growing. I think I've influenced some women, like my students and some farmers I interviewed. I expanded my network not only in this region of the cerrado, meeting wonderful people with a sense of social change, with a gender equality. I made lots of friends and I drank a lot of coffee. I made trips around the country and abroad teaching our "Silent Revolution". But there is still much to be done, We will still have many rewards from our work. But like any social change, it will take time to be accepted by all and give credits to "coffee women". The IWCA-Brazil provided several opportunities for gender equality and is the entity that most contributed to this issue. The gender differences in the rural environment are greater than in urban areas, as far as work is concerned. But gradually this reality is changing. And that's just the beginning of a new story, and will leave a great inheritance for national coffee, especially for women.

By André Luiz Costa

Journalist

Translation: Eduarda Sieira