Interview

Partnering with Smallholder Farmers to Strengthen Brazil’s Dairy Sector

May 5, 2025

An Interview with Bruno Girao

CEO of Alvoar Lacteos

In this interview, the CEO of Alvoar Lacteos shares how the company sources 40% of its milk from smallholders, many of whom are in Brazil’s poorest and most underdeveloped areas—helping boost productivity through improved feed, breeding, and on-the-ground support from specialists. The discussion also highlights Alvoar’s focus on responsible production and how IFC is helping the company strengthen its operations and impact across the value chain.

  • 6,000
    smallholder farmers supply milk to Alvoar Lacteos
  • 40%
    of Alvoar’s milk comes from underserved regions in northeast Brazil

Question: Tell us about yourself.


Bruno: I come from Brazil, especially the northeast. I'm the CEO of Alvoar, which is a dairy company, the fifth largest dairy company in Brazil. We buy milk for 6000 farmers. It represents about 40% of the milk that we buy and they are located mostly in the poorest and the underdeveloped area in Brazil. The North East.


Question: How important are smallholders to your business?


Bruno: Smallholders are important for our operation because it accounts for about 40% of the milk that the company buys and they're located at the poorest and the area of Brazil. We want to help them to produce more milk to be able to attend the market demand that is growing.


Question: How do you support smallholders to improve and grow?


Bruno: We have programs from helping them to raise better their cows, breeding programs to have cows that are adapted to the too hot climate. We do have also programs on nutrition and crop selection to better suit resilience, climate resilience in the region.


Question: What about the Climate?


Bruno: It's becoming more and more as consumer understanding and ask for a better solutions and CO2 emissions and the whole supply chain. But it's we are still struggling at the farm level because most of them don't realize that as a value.So we are setting up programs to raise the consciousness of those small farmers.


Question: Why work with IFC?


Bruno: IFC just made an investment on our company about two years ago and it's helping us through the ESG journey. So we are now measuring the impact of CO2 emissions in our entire supply chain, especially now at the farm levels.

 

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