Pobreza e sustentabilidade

The article shows the high concentration of gross income in Brazilian agriculture - 11% of the 4.4 million rural establishments accounted for 87% of all gross income in 2006. Technology is responsible for this concentration. The exclusion of small producers is a consequence of market imperfections and public policies that discriminate against small producers. Given this context, the article analyzes the difficulties of generalizing the adoption of public policies and the use of complex agricultural technologies. Moreover, it highlights that some technologies have great discrimination potential. In this regard, it presents an initial reflection on the possibility of some technologies that favor the environmental sustainability to discriminate the small farm production. It is concluded that the public policies for agriculture are not neutral in relation to the volume of production, because small farm producers sell their products at prices far below those received by medium and large producers and pay more for the inputs. As a result, small farm producers cannot adopt the technology that makes each hectare and worker produce more and thus, avoid the threat of poverty through agriculture. The same is true for environmental preservation technologies and the regulations of public policies. The bias is more serious for technologies that require larger investments in capital goods and complex business management techniques, exactly the ones with the greatest potential to generate income. Therefore, it is recommended to evaluate public policies in order to eliminate, where possible, their biases, or to compensate the small farm production for the loss suffered. Likewise, the need for rigorous analysis of the technologies available in the market, particularly the most demanding in physical and human capital, of greater complexity and with long-term return is also emphasized. This, in order to identify the discrimination faced by the small farm production and consequently, to define correcting measures.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Alves, Eliseu; Assessor do Presidente e pesquisador da Embrapa, Souza, Geraldo da Silva; Pesquisador da Embrapa, Secretaria de Gestão Institucional, Santana, Carlos Augusto Mattos; Pesquisador da Embrapa, Secretaria de Inteligência e Macroestratégia
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	Portuguese
Published:	Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento 2017
Online Access:	https://seer.sede.embrapa.br/index.php/RPA/article/view/1203
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