The Role of Institutions in Promoting Resilience …
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and political participation that, in turn, increases vulnerability. There was a visible
difference in working and living conditions between farmers and artisans organized
in cooperatives, associations or even informal networks compared to those working
in individual family units. The main benefits of being part of a network were sharing
administrative and logistic costs, primarily related to transportation and having a
community as a backup. Thus, farming network organizations promote resilience.
Partnerships between farmers and education institutions showed a promising role
in helping to develop local, sustainable food systems. Education institutions of different levels are present in most municipalities, and they could mutually benefit from
internships, research partnership to develop small-scale farming technologies and
direct transactions of an agroecological food supply.
As for the role of the government, offering technical assistance was appointed as
one of the most critical roles. Another policy considered fundamental to the wellbeing of farmers was the acquisition of production of family agriculture by the
State, such as the PAA executed by Conab. A bank agent interviewed in this study
credited this program with keeping farmers and their family out of risk of hunger,
and providing them access to health.
Mendell (2009) described the beginning of the development of an enabling structure for the Quebec social economy to develop with the initiative of a ‘proactive’
government in 1996, inviting the community to participate in the Summit on the
Economic and Social Future of Quebec, drawing civil society to form task forces
to attend their own demands with the support of the state. Subsequently, the author
mentions the limits imposed by a new government in 2003. The future of family
farming in Brazil is being threatened, and with the election of Bolsonaro for the
presidency of Brazil, it might take some time for it to recover. However, the SSE
and family farming is older than agribusiness and the mainstream’s economy, and
it has changed with it, in moments advancing, in others declining as it responds to
socioeconomic and political stimulus. The vulnerability of the sector to the recent
dismembering of institutional structures is high, but so is the resilience of organized
people.
References
Agencia Brazil (2018) Bolsonaro diz que não fará acordos que prejudiquem agronegócio. By
Accessed on December 2018, available at: http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/politica/noticia/201811/bolsonaro-nao-fara-acordos-que-prejudiquem-agronegocio-do-brasil
CONTAG (2017) Nota Official. Sistema Confederativo CONTAG reage a cortes no orçamento
para a Agricultura Familiar. Accessed on November 2018, available at: http://www.contag.org.
br/index.php?modulo=portal&acao=interna&codpag=101&id=12535&mt=1&nw=1
Dantas M, Silva G (2018) The Xique-Xique Network towards sustainability and solidarity. IOP
Conf Ser: Earth Environ Sci 151:012014. Available at: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/
1755-1315/151/1/012014/pdf
FAO (2014) Family farming is part of the solution to the hunger problem. Accessed on November
2018, available at: http://www.fao.org/zhc/detail-events/en/c/270855/
665
and political participation that, in turn, increases vulnerability. There was a visible
difference in working and living conditions between farmers and artisans organized
in cooperatives, associations or even informal networks compared to those working
in individual family units. The main benefits of being part of a network were sharing
administrative and logistic costs, primarily related to transportation and having a
community as a backup. Thus, farming network organizations promote resilience.
Partnerships between farmers and education institutions showed a promising role
in helping to develop local, sustainable food systems. Education institutions of different levels are present in most municipalities, and they could mutually benefit from
internships, research partnership to develop small-scale farming technologies and
direct transactions of an agroecological food supply.
As for the role of the government, offering technical assistance was appointed as
one of the most critical roles. Another policy considered fundamental to the wellbeing of farmers was the acquisition of production of family agriculture by the
State, such as the PAA executed by Conab. A bank agent interviewed in this study
credited this program with keeping farmers and their family out of risk of hunger,
and providing them access to health.
Mendell (2009) described the beginning of the development of an enabling structure for the Quebec social economy to develop with the initiative of a ‘proactive’
government in 1996, inviting the community to participate in the Summit on the
Economic and Social Future of Quebec, drawing civil society to form task forces
to attend their own demands with the support of the state. Subsequently, the author
mentions the limits imposed by a new government in 2003. The future of family
farming in Brazil is being threatened, and with the election of Bolsonaro for the
presidency of Brazil, it might take some time for it to recover. However, the SSE
and family farming is older than agribusiness and the mainstream’s economy, and
it has changed with it, in moments advancing, in others declining as it responds to
socioeconomic and political stimulus. The vulnerability of the sector to the recent
dismembering of institutional structures is high, but so is the resilience of organized
people.
References
Agencia Brazil (2018) Bolsonaro diz que não fará acordos que prejudiquem agronegócio. By
Accessed on December 2018, available at: http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/politica/noticia/201811/bolsonaro-nao-fara-acordos-que-prejudiquem-agronegocio-do-brasil
CONTAG (2017) Nota Official. Sistema Confederativo CONTAG reage a cortes no orçamento
para a Agricultura Familiar. Accessed on November 2018, available at: http://www.contag.org.
br/index.php?modulo=portal&acao=interna&codpag=101&id=12535&mt=1&nw=1
Dantas M, Silva G (2018) The Xique-Xique Network towards sustainability and solidarity. IOP
Conf Ser: Earth Environ Sci 151:012014. Available at: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/
1755-1315/151/1/012014/pdf
FAO (2014) Family farming is part of the solution to the hunger problem. Accessed on November
2018, available at: http://www.fao.org/zhc/detail-events/en/c/270855/