The impact of Pronab B on the satisfaction of family farmers of Minas Gerais

Abstract

The National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (Pronaf), created in 1996, focuses on promoting sustainable rural development in order to expand productive capacity, employment generation and income enhancement. For both, there is a specific line of work, Pronaf B, targeted to family farmers with monthly income of up to 20 thousand reais. The objective of the research was to evaluate the impact of Pronaf B under the perception of the beneficiaries of meso Jequitinhonha and northern Minas Gerais state, in relation to production, income and quality of life. Visited were 17 municipalities were interviewed between 143 beneficiaries and 53 individuals with similar characteristics to pronafianos, however, have not accessed the program (control group). The statistical treatment of the data was based on descriptive statistics, the Cronbach’s alpha, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) and the mean test. It was evident that no effects of the program in production, ensuring no increase in agricultural income, with only more significant impact on quality of life, reflecting a possible misuse of credit resources to purchase food and personal goods. Thus, the results admit the importance of ongoing evaluation of the results of government actions to improve Pronaf B.