Risk Management Applied to Brazilian Family Agriculture

Abstract

Although hazards exist in all agricultural settings—particularly for the family farmer—uncertainties related to productionplace food security and family subsistence at risk. The objective of thisstudy was therefore to analyze the components of risk managementapplied to family farming. To this end, we performed an exploratorystudy using data from a statistical survey of the 2018 AgriculturalCensus. Our results showed risks that were classified between mediumand high. We observed that 45.8% of producers received retirementfunds, implying they tend to be an older population. As a result,family succession work aimed at strengthening agricultural activitiesthrough technical assistance and rural extension (ATER) are necessary,since 80.1% of properties do not receive specialized guidance. Wealso found that 59% of the producers are not registered with theDeclaration of Aptitude to Pronaf (DAP), which is an instrument usedto access differentiated public programs. In this case, we observedthat 52.2% of credit comes from government programs, with Pronafaccounting for the highest volume of credit (40.2% of resources).Using these data, we find that integrated risk management contributesto the daily activities of the rural producer, promotes the continuousimprovement of the family business, assists in decision-making, andultimately results in a reduction of losses and increases family income.