extensão ou comunicação

reconstrução da Extensão Rural PÚBLICA no brasil: novas questÕes, velhos problemas

Laura Maria Goulart Duarte, Doutora em Sociologia, Professora do Curso de Doutorado em Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Universidade de Brasília. HYPERLINK "mailto:[e-mail]" [e-mail]

Emma Siliprandi, Doutoranda em Desenvolvimento Sustentável pela Universidade de Brasília. Coordenadora Executiva do Projeto de Cooperação Técnica entre o Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário – MDA e a Organização das Nações Unidas para Agricultura e Alimentação – FAO, UTF/BRA/057/BRA. HYPERLINK "mailto:[e-mail]" [e-mail]

Abstract
Through an analysis of the history and policies of Brazil from the end of the 1940s until today, this article examines several issues relating to the reconstruction of the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension activities in the country. The authors highlight the importance of the publication of the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension National Policy, which has placed a new emphasis on policy after years of neglect. The article considers the importance of the re-establishment of the policy, focusing on three questions: (i) How can the new policy be judged in the light of changes in both Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER) and rural developments, including critiques from social movements? (ii) How can available data on the policy’s achievements be interpreted, and its innovatory potential be analyzed? How can the policy’s limits be identified, given the structural changes that Brazil is still undergoing?
Since the 1980’s emergence of neo-liberal policies in Brazil, the country has experienced both structural adjustments and reforms. These have been characterized by a strong component of “de-legitimating” public action hand in had with a “disintegration” of the institutions responsible for those policies. This article then identifies the extent of the ATER re-establishment and discusses