Private subsystem of research and technical assistance for the technological innovation of agriculture in Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian technological innovation system for agribusiness was implemented in the 1970s with the creation of the national agricultural research system (Sistema Nacional de Pesquisa Agropecuária - SNPA), composed of Embrapa and the state agricultural research organizations (Organizações Estaduais de Pesquisa Agropecuária - OEPAs), linked to the public sector. Other important actors in agricultural innovation should have their role recognized, such as the universities, the private agricultural research and development sector, and the social organizations linked to producers, such as cooperatives and the private technical assistance system. All these actors are part of the Brazilian system of technological innovation for agribusiness, composed of two major components, the public subsystem (public research and technical assistance organizations), and the private subsystem (input producers, production marketing, as well as research and development and technology transfer). This paper analyzes the performance of some important segments of the private subsystem of agricultural technological innovation, represented by agricultural cooperatives, private research and development organizations, and private institutions of technical assistance to rural producers, as well as their role and operation areas for the basic research, applied research, engineering, and the diffusion of technology and technical assistance. It is part of a comprehensive work that analyzed the entire Brazilian system of technological innovation for agribusiness from the demand of Centro de Gestão de Estudos Estratégicos do Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (MCTI). Private institutes of research and development were studied, such as the IRGA (from Rio Grande do Sul state, rice production), the CTC (São Paulo state, sugarcane production), the Fundação Mato Grosso (Mato Grosso state, soybean production), and the Instituto Mato-Grossense de Algodão (IMAmt). Some of these organizations are dedicated to research and development, while others, such as Irga, are dedicated also to rural extension. Their main operating areas and results were recorded. The private technical assistance – which is performed by input-selling companies, nongovernmental organizations, and technical assistance teams of producer cooperatives, with the participation of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) – is carried out in a way linked to selling, in general of input trading companies. The country is considered to have 25,000 extensionists in the field (about 16,000 extensionists of the public service of technical assistance and rural extension (ATER), and 9,000 professionals from private enterprises). Two million properties are supposed to receive some kind of assistance eventually. The knowledge generated by this paper is relevant for scholars of the Brazilian agriculture performance and its main production chains, besides being useful to orient the action of managers of the government organs of innovation in Brazil, such as the MCTI and the CGEE.