Building a bridge to São José do Norte
1997
Zabaleta, João Pedro
An interdisciplinary and multinational team of five agriculture scientists conducted a three month diagnostic study to ascertain the research needs of family farms in the municipality of São José do Norte, Southern Brazil. This study is part of a six month training programme run by the International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA), in agreement with the Agricultural Research Centre for the Temperature Climate (CPACT) of Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA). The main aim of the study was to provide a better understanding of research needs for family farmers "in transition", as a basis for the validation of sustainable technology and the suggestion of research options for the EMBRAPA Family Farm Project. There are two parts to the report. The first part gives the results and analysis of the data collected through this participatory methodological approach. Using workshops and interviews with PRA tools such as questionnaires, matrix ranking, metaplan, checklist, AKIS-analysis, village enumerations, survey and case studies, information was obtained to set priorities, analyse, validate and develop research recommendations. The main production systems of the study area, a narrow peninsula between a lagoon and the Atlantic ocean were analysed and described. This analysis showed the importance of onion production whilst at the same time identifying potentials such as the importance of livestock in the system and alternatives to the monoculture production method currently being practised. A functional typology was developed through the steps of the study, the basic criteria being the main source of income: the amount of onion producted, in order to operationalise the concepts of peripheric, transitional and consolidated farmer categories in the study area.
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