Adoption and use of technical assistance and rural extension in Brazilian microregions

Abstract

The objective of this study is to verify which factors influence the adoption and use of technical guidance in agricultural establishments, and to analyze the spatial distribution of such guidance in Brazil. To this end, the exploratory spatial data analysis was used, seeking to identify patterns of spatial association, as well as spatial regressions to ascertain the determinants. The employed data are from the Brazilian agricultural census of 2017 (Censo Agropecuário de 2017) covering the 558 microregions of Brazil. The main results indicate that the south region concentrates most of the agricultural establishments using technical guidance in the country. These data also show that the provision of financing and the presence of cooperatives condition the adoption and use of technical guidance.