Projeto de desenvolvimento rural sustentável e o desempenho das organizações de agricultores familiares do estado do Ceará na implementação de mecanismos de gestão

Abstract

During the last years in Brazil, a set of policies, programs and governmental projects aimed to a social, economical and political insertion of the most weakened social segments of the “country” community. Most of these policies broached the subject of rural development embracing essencial components on the process: appreciation and the strengthening of family farming, economical diversification on the territories, the incentive and increment of local entrepreneurship. On that note, the Ceará State Government has been consolidating a large experience on coordination and execution of programs and projects, between them the Sustainable Rural Development Project – PDRS known as “Projeto São José III”. As a public policy, it had two purposes: to make productive investments for the organization of family farmers and strengthen organizational management. This study aims to analyze the management performance of family farmers’ organizations through the measurement of two indices: Social Management and Service Delivery. The data used are of primary origin, obtained through the application of 52 structured questionnaires for beneficiary (Treated) and non-beneficiaries (Control) organizations located in 11 rural territories of Ceará State. The same questionnaire was applied before and after the Project intervention to the same organizations. The applied tests revealed that there is no significant difference between the beneficiary and non-beneficiary organizations of the Project and that the organizations present relatively low levels of social management and service rendering pointing weaknesses in thei