THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS IN THE GENERATION OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY IN BRAZIL

Abstract

The study attemps to synthesize the principal indications of the case study for Brazil of the Project PROAGRO (Project Agricultural Research Organizations and Performance), aiming to interpret elements which lead to the development (or non-development) of a private agriculture research sector in this country. For this purpose, the evolution of the public research sector is discussed; a balance is presented of the private research institutions and of their technology production dynamic in the principal subsectors of production of inputs and machines for agriculture; and concluded that the fact that Brazil has not developed a private and autonomus sector of agricultural research of the size which was expected is due to the role which the state has assumed, that is to say, that once the state apparatus for creation of science and technology became completely subordinated to the interests and necessities of private enterprises-with mechanisms which even made possible the private appropriation of the results obtained -, it became unnecessary to set up a private, autonomus section for agriculture research.