Atuação da Emater em comunidades rurais do Município de Patos - PB.

Abstract

Technical assistance and rural extension services have the role to promote sustainable development considering the social, environmental, economical, political, ethical and cultural dimensions. This study evaluated the small farmer profile from six rural communities assisted by Emater/Patos-PB, the activities practiced in these communities, and the working conditions put available to the Emater technicians. Data collection was carried out by means of a questionary distributed to each family of the communities with questions about the number of residents in the house, time already spent in agricultural activities, main agriculture and cattle raising activities, their relation with the Caatinga Biome and the technical assistance received from Emater - Patos-PB. The questionary distributed to the Emater technicians focused on their academic background, daily restrains and current projects. The average time already spent in agricultural activities surpassed 25 years, and there are no children and young family members living in the communities. Fruit, bean and corn production, associated with domestic animals, are the main activities in these communities. Most of the residents in these communities receive some kind of income from the federal government that helps them during the period of no production in their rural property. Most of them knows the Caatinga biome and considers that IBAMA inspection reduced the uncontrolled exploitation of the native vegetation for firewood production. The main difficulties pointed out by Emater - PB technicians were lack of funding and institutional planning, excessive bureaucracy and insufficient staff members, along with particularities of the region, such as the periodic and severe droughts. The current technical assistance in local communities comes from funding of a Public Call (Chamada Pública), and the developed activities have the objective to fulfill the goals of that Public Call. In general, more investments are necessary to give technicians and residents access to training courses and low cost advanced technologies adequated to the conditions of the semiarid region of northeast Brazil.