Educação e desenvolvimento rural: encontros e desencontros entre extensionistas e agricultores familiares

Abstract

Agricultural extension is an educational process involving farmers and extension workers that aims at rural development. This study investigated how agricultural extension contributes to the improvement of lives and production conditions of small-scale farmers in Brazil. For eightmonths, I observed the work of five extension workers (or extensionists) at a public agency for a project that involved 260 families, totaling more than one-thousand individuals. My hypothesis was that improvement would be reduced because the extension workers had limited knowledge of the complexity of small-scale farming. This hypothesis was supportedby my findings. The results of the fieldwork pointed out that rural extension has been an important means of creating resources that result from public policies available to rural communities. These resources were essential to improving the lives of the farmers by offering, for example, social benefits to the individuals and providing them with betterhousing conditions. On the other hand, the educational approach based on the transfer of technology resulted often inadvertently in a neglect of the farmers experience. It was difficult for extensionists to be truly effective in their agricultural recommendations without understanding the logic of small-scale farmers. In addition, conducting and controllinggovernmental projects required an exhaustive effort from the extensionists. Their tasks of planning, monitoring and evaluation generated an enormous amount of paperwork, making it difficult for them to deliver appropriate services to the farmers. My findings suggest that inorder for extensionists to be effective and make their knowledge helpful to rural communities, it would be important for them to first learn about the needs, fears and expectations of the farmers before attempting to teach them new farming techniques. It would also be useful for them to understand the division of labor among farming families and the ways in which farmers organize agricultural production. Only then, as a next step, would the introduction of new ideas and techniques be appropriate to the realities of small-scale farming.