Resumo

Coffee is one of the most important productive chains in the Brazilian agribusiness, as it generates foreign exchange and economic development. Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee and the second largest consumer market of coffee. Given the relevance of the coffee production chain, there are several discussions about greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the sector and their impacts on climate change. GHG emissions inventories are necessary to create emission mitigation strategies, as well as to improve the relations of stakeholders with the various stages of the chain.

The production of Arabica emitted about 1.40 million tons of CO2e. This represented 70% of total GHG emissions in the Brazilian coffee production. The question of this research is how does temperature, rainfall, altitude, soil characteristics, tree species and shade density can impact GHG emissions? This study aimed to estimate the GHG emissions in the Brazilian Arabica coffee-beans production and to verify how more efficient management techniques can avoid these emissions during the crop production in crop year. It is based on the premise that the quantification of CO2 emissions.

The cultivation of coffee, like any other agricultural crop, emits greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) (Maina et al.; 2015). Among the sectors that emit more GHG (Noponen et al., 2013), Brazilian agriculture emits about 7.5 million tons (SEEG, 2016). From the 1970s, nontrivial changes have continuously occurred in rainfall regimes and in the processes of desertification, which have directly increased GHG emissions (Mora et al., 2018; IPCC, 2006). Climate change is of concern to the international community (Maina et al., 2016; IPCC, 2006).

The estimated GHG emission equations used in this study were developed based on the IPCC methodology described in 2006 in the IPCC Assessment Reports and in the agriculture methodology of the Green House Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol, 2014). The estimated GHG emission equations used in this study were developed based on the IPCC methodology described in 2006 in the IPCC Assessment Reports and in the agriculture methodology of the Green House Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol, 2014). Delphi Methodology was used to collect data information from the coffee farms who provide information about production.

According to the results, CO2 emissions from C. arabica production were 2.01 million tons in 2017, representing 2.81% of the GHG emissions observed in Brazilian agriculture in the same year. Because of the positive biennial cycle, C. arabica production emitted 2.70 million tons of GHG in 2016, representing 3.93% of the total emissions in the Brazilian agriculture. In coffee production in Minas Gerais, emissions of 0.72 and 0.46 million tons of GHG could be avoided in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Only Minas Gerais could reduce almost 70% of total emissions.

In 2017, the production of Arabica emitted about 1.40 million tons of CO2e - 70% of total. That nitrogen fertilizers are the ones that emit more GHG in coffee cultivation. If nitrogen applications were adapted to the recommended standards, coffee crop emissions could be avoided by 0.67 million tons of GHG in 2017 and by 1 million tons of GHG in 2016. It is possible to elaborate emission mitigation strategies through the adequate management of nitrogen fertilization. The ideal amount of N required to maintain the productive and vegetative states of coffee plants is 6.2 kg per sack per hectare.

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