Assistência técnica e extensão rural: as intervenções técnicas no campo e o desenvolvimento rural sustentável em Lavras/MG

Abstract

Agent technical interventions with family farmers are preponderant to promote sustainable rural development, which aims to promote economic-productive, social, environmental and cultural dimensions in rural areas. Public rural extension services compose the State strategies to promote such development, and the private technical assistance services are aimed at achieving specific interests, but that influence such development. Both sectors invest resources, employ professionals, occupy and promote transformations in the rural space. This study presents the interventions effects of the technical agents linked to rural extension public services and of private technical assistance with family farmers and analyzes their contribution to the promotion of sustainable rural development in the city of Lavras-MG. For that, the technicians who works in the city and farmers receiving the services of technical assistance and rural extension were interviewed. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with technical agents from private companies, four with technical agents from public companies and thirteen with family farmers assisted by these professionals. It was identified that the services of public rural extension and the private technical assistance are approaching in the sense of being fundamental for the familiar farmers, mainly, considering the economic-productive dimension. However, the priority of intervention with objectives centered on agricultural productivity limits the consideration of the social, cultural and environmental dimensions of the local reality. In this sense, these results show limitations so that Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER) can really contribute to the construction of sustainable rural development in the analyzed context.