The Contribution and Challenges of Family Agriculture in the Practice of Sustainable Development in Brazil

Abstract

This dissertation examines the impacts of the agricultural production of foods in the environment considering that this production have to rise due to population increase causing in most cases intensive cultivation of monocultures, with excessive use of fertilizers, biodiversity losses, deforestation, groundwater contamination, etc... Mainly in Brazil that it has 60% of its territory consisting of natural vegetation is necessary to search for more sustainable production, therefore will be evaluated a family farming as a more sustainable form of production meeting present needs using a more sustainable form of production while provide less space for cultivation, diversity of plant species in the crop and the less use of industrial inputs such as pesticides. Brazil is now one of the countries that use pesticides the most in the world. At the same time, the present study will evaluate the diversity of Brazilian family agriculture, which includes families living in extreme poverty as producers inserted in the modern agribusiness, showing that the agricultural cooperatives are the way for these poorer producers to excel. The time period studied in this dissertation includes a visitation of family farmers who participate of agricultural cooperatives in the state of Ceara in Brazil. In particular, we have shown that despite the government's incentive to purchase products from family agriculture for the national school feeding program and the preference for producers selling organic products, this farmer does not have access to the final consumer to sell his production, in addition they do not have ample access to techniques of sustainable production. In this way, it is necessary to raise awareness among the population to buy products from family farmers, as well as greater government investment in free courses of sustainable production and technology that can be used by these small producers.