THE LINK BETWEEN RURAL CREDIT AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN BRAZIL: ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIENCE OF THE BRAZILIAN SYSTEM OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND RURAL EXTENSION

Abstract

This work examines the link between rural credit and government technical assistance in Brazil since its beginnings in the 1950's. The working hypothesis that guided this document maintains that: for the Rural Extension Service, rural credit became an end in itself because of the operational budget provided by the service. The major observations are: a) the creation of the National System of Rural Credit in 1964 was closely connected with the previous experience of the Rural Extension Service, which, from the moment it was created, vindicated the link; b) linkage was a powerful instrument to align the activities of the Rural Extension Service with agricultural policies; c) the service's "social character" was negatively affected by the growing importance of rural credit; d) from a Rural Extension Service financial self-sufficiency standpoint, linkage with credit did not represent more than 10% of the extension budget, for the country as a whole; e) the "villain" role attributed to rural credit must be reviewed in view of the geographic expansion of the Rural Extension Service which, during the period of intense linkage with credit, impeded more satisfactory operational conditions for the practice of its work philosophy.