Family farming, extension action and public policy

advances, challenges and lessons for the promotion of rural development in the Jequitinhonha Valley, MG

Abstract

A number of actions and public policies aiming to combat poverty and social inequality have been implemented in the Jequitinhonha Valley, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (MG), over the past decades. Given the importance of these instruments for the social reproduction of historically and geographically marginalized groups, this article reviews the advances achieved and the challenges faced in promoting and maintaining family farming in this region. To this end, in addition to consulting official documents on public policies implemented and the role of extension action in this process, interviews were conducted with rural extensionists and family farmers benefiting from these policies. Based on the assessments carried out, we concluded that, despite the benefits generated at the economic, social and political level, a number of issues still persist, preventing the establishment of a more solidary, autonomous and sustainable rural development model in the region. In fact, there is urgency regarding the reconstruction, restructuring and rearticulating of the instruments and strategies for addressing these issues in order to strengthen the social, economic and political dynamism of the territories and to establish spaces of contiguity where horizontal cohesion is placed at the service of society as a whole.