DIALOGUE OF WISDOMS OR MONOLOG OF KNOWLEDGE? TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND RURAL EXTENSION AND THE DEVELOPMENT POLICIES OF RURAL TERRITORIES IN JEQUITINHONHA VALLEY/MG

Abstract

The modernization of Brazilian agriculture has gained the support of various social agents, between the 1960s and 1980s, especially the organs of technical assistance and rural extension - TARE. After the crisis of the Brazilian State and the paradigm of the Green Revolution in the 1980s, new proposals for "sustainable agriculture" emerged in the political and socio-environmental scenario of the country, leading to the reformulation of the extensionism model practiced by TARE agencies. In 2004 it established the National Policy on Technical Assistance and Rural Extension - NPTARE - with the aim of stimulating agroecological transition in the countryside and therefore promote sustainable rural development. The research proposed here aims to understand the results and challenges of EMATER - MG and rural development policies implemented in Jequitinhonha Valley/MG in the period between the years 2004 and 2014 in order to fulfill the purposes of NPTARE. To achieve the research objective, beyond the literature review will be performed direct observation of extension practice, conducted semi - structured interviews, applied forms of technical and beneficiaries of extensionism in different socio-spatial contexts Jequitinhonha Valley/MG. It is intended to create an intelligibility on progress and challenges to the consolidation of a "new" extension in the region, under the principles of agroecology and sustainable agriculture transition, deepening and broadening dialogue between studies in Agricultural Geography and Agroecology.