THE DYNAMICS OF FAMILY AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: THE OUR COMPANY RURAL PROGRAM OF
SÃO FRANCISCO DO OESTE (RN)
Family farming, public policies, rural development. territory.
This work aims to analyze the dynamics of the Nossa Empresa Rural Program-PNER, an informal collective organization instrument implemented in the scope of family farming, in the territorial context of the Municipality of São Francisco do Oeste/RN. For this, it considers the agricultural economy and rural development by comparing the socioeconomic diversity between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the PNER. The methodology consisted of comparing the dynamics of the two groups, using secondary data from the Participatory Rural Diagnosis carried out by the local Municipal Secretariat of Agriculture and the Environment in the years 2021 and 2022, which reveal results from the choices and strategies of family farmers in the ways how they obtain and use available resources. The hypothesis is that the group of beneficiaries achieved a higher level of performance than non-beneficiaries, with trends towards greater rural development of the community included in the process. In this regard, the analysis identified that the participation of family farmers in the PNER appears as an advantageous factor for the better use of resources such as greater use of land in the agricultural exploration, less dependence of families in relation to other sources of non-agricultural income, greater livestock collection and superior milk production, as well as greater access to ATER services. In general, it is concluded that the Program is reflected as a strategy to improve the production conditions of family-based agriculture and in relation to the organization and management of the property.