ASSOCIATING CASAS FAMILIARES RURAIS WITH EXTENSION ACTIVITIES (BRAZILIAN AMAZON)

Abstract

This paper presents a specific method for agricultural extension work, that is, for the adoption and dissemination of agricultural techniques, in the Brazilian Amazon frontier regions. The deficiency in technical references and the weakness of extension practice from the public institutions in these regions led to the development of this extension program with local farmers' organisations. The Laboratório Agroecológico da Transamazônica (Laet), associated with a public research institution (Embrapa Amazônia Oriental) and a public university (Universidade Federal do Pará, UFPa), bases its action on a permanent partnership with a network of individual farmers and with local rural schools (Casas Familiares Rurais, CFR) interested in local sustainable development. Laet's extension activities are organised in four levels of intervention, each intensified through the CFR partnerships. The first level, from the historical and functional point of view, is relationships with individual farmers, established through experiments with technical alternatives and management advising. The second is the administration of a network of "farmer-researchers" to increase the social and technical representativeness of the program. The third involves the dissemination of techniques in partnership with the farmers, the farmer-research network and farmers' organisations. The fourth is a partnership with local and regional institutions for dissemination of agricultural methods: the university, local extension institutions, and activities in other regions. Relatively simple and unobtrusive tools for monitoring are preferred. The farm families record management and experiments; evaluation and advice are based directly on those records, without further data formalisation. This approach allows a permanent discussion between farmers, farmers" organisation, CFRs, and Laet about priorities in the innovations for experimentation, adaptation and dissemination.