Extensão rural e renda agrícola: evidências do programa Fomento Rural para o Brasil

Abstract

Agricultural Extension is one of the main policy tools used by governments to expand and promote the adoption of new production techniques among small rural farmers. In this study, we evaluates the effects of an agricultural extension program implemented in Brazil – the Rural Development Program (PFR) – on farmers’ income. This program provides both social and productive monitoring, as well as direct financial transfers to small farmers for investment in productive projects. Our empirical strategy utilizes the Difference-in-Differences method, exploiting the staggered entry of rural establishments into the program from 2012 to 2021. Our results show that receiving program resources and participating in the productive project monitoring lead to an increase in agricultural income generated within the rural establishment. The estimated effect size is 13.3%. This effect is more pronounced in the North and Northeast regions, in properties with smaller cultivated areas and lower income levels.