da Silva, Hur Ben Correa; (2001) Agricultural Extension and Farmer Participation in Southern Brazil. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The thesis discusses the government and non-government agricultural extension services, concerning the diffusionist and participatory approaches and the participation of producers. It looks into two land settlement projects, the Vitoria da Uniao project, which was assisted by EMATER-Pr, Parana's official agricultural extension service, and the Nhundiaquara project, which was assisted by ASSESOAR, a local non-governmental organization. They are situated in Brazil, in the State of Parana, and were part of the National Agrarian Reform Plan (PNRA), created in 1985. Three dimensions of participation are considered: objectives (project efficiency, cost-sharing, project effectiveness, capacity-building and empowerment), intensities (information-sharing, consultation, decision-making and action), and instruments (extensionists and producer groups). The modernization of agriculture after World War II strengthened the latifundio, rooted in colonial Brazil and intensified the marginalization of small farmers. The governmental agricultural extension service was a tool to diffuse modern technology, based on industrial inputs. Its administration, extension methods, producer groups and organizations, and extensionists were designed to facilitate the adoption of modern technology and achieve national economic goals. The non-governmental agricultural extension organizations, which were sponsored mainly by the Church, opposed the modernization policies and the authoritarian regime. These organizations were concerned with the situation of the poor farmers and focused on social development. Their administration was highly informal and extensionists were militants of social movements. The findings suggest that these characteristics promoted different types of producer participation which generated rather different project results such as in terms of the distribution of benefits and income, self-sufficiency and empowerment. Alternative extension policies are suggested in view of the latest trends on democratization, agrarian reform and economic adjustment. They focus on promoting government and non-government collaboration, alternative means to generate and diffuse appropriate technology and the participation of small farmers in official policies.

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