Agricultores familiares no Município de Igarapé-Açu: estudo da participação em processos de desenvolvimento local sustentável

Abstract

Researched the performance of sustainable local development projects implemented in the Municipality of Igarapé-Acu, Para State, from November 2000 to February 2005, to evaluate the contribution of these projects to strengthen the participation of family farmers involved. For this we examined the following experiences: Project BNDES - Local Development UNDP Technical Cooperation, Project Integrated and Sustainable Local Development - DLIS-coordinated by SEBRAE, and Local Development Project, coordinated by the Federal Rural University of Amazonia - UFRA. In this paper we understand participation as an act of conquest and self-promotion of the individuals involved that are appearing as protagonists in their stories. The assumption is that experiences little examined strengthened the participation process understood according to the concept adopted here, frustrating even the original proposals of projects. To verify this hypothesis we used as a methodological procedure participant observation, in the case of a project coordinated by UFRA, which is ongoing. For this and other cases, we conducted open interviews with the "key informants," such as project coordinators, representatives of partner institutions and community leaders. We also use semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis of files, as well as analyzing the relationship between theory and practice for the experiences. The research showed a gap between the theoretical proposal of the project and its practical development. There are projects in which the participation of farmers was hampered by poor socialization and understanding of the proposal and the lack of transparency in the application of resources, lack of sense of belonging by beneficiaries; training and inefficient. In the case where the decision-making capacity of farmers was better stimulated, a greater ownership of the process of local development and a trend to a more active and conscious participation of farmers