Shifting From Technical Assistance to Holistic Farm Management Consultancy Advice-A Brazilian Experience

Airton Spies and Gerald Frengley

No 346582, 12th Congress, Durban, South Africa, July 18-24, 1999 from International Farm Management Association

Abstract: Presently farmers being serviced by agricultural co-operatives in Santa Catarina State, Brazil, may receive advice from 3 to 4 technicians each following their speciality - eg. oranges, pigs, dairy, and crops. No concern is given to the farmer’s needs or to his financial and management problems. No one attempts to understand the whole system, with its constraints, threats and opportunities. Farmers have been dissatisfied with the conflicts and problems. This has imposed the recent introduction of whole farm management methods to Brazil has opened an opportunity seen by many to offer a solution to improve the efficiency of their farming systems. Three co-operatives have begun the transition of converting the activities of their technicians from restricted technical assistance to whole farm management system advice. While the technicians, farmers and the principals of the co-operatives are enthusiastic about the approach it is yet too early to precisely measure the success of the transformation. In the paper the current status of the transition and related problems and successes of one cooperative (CooperArco-lris) are described. Methods used to introduce the recommended process, clarification of the objectives and expected immediate and long run outcomes are then discussed with recommendations to others facing the same transition.

Keywords: Farm; Management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14
Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:ifma99:346582

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.346582

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