Efeitos da aquisição de tratores agrícolas por meio do Pronaf Mais Alimentos na região Central do Rio Grande do Sul – da economia à segurança.

Abstract

With the economic recovery and the benefits arising from the Federal Government, the Family Agriculture was encouraged to enter the market in a more organized and competitive way. In the social aspect, it is a return to the values of the land and the environment because family farmers produce in smaller scale and with more diversity. With the demand for products originating from family farming and with the ease of acquisition of machinery and equipment, the small farm is replacing hand work by mechanized tasks. Factors such as the limited manpower, the demand for food and agricultural machinery and equipment market, which expanded by incentives provided by the Federal Government, made that these farms become more productive by joining the partial total mechanization of their activities. Thus, this study aimed to diagnose how the acquisition of tractors through Pronaf Mais Alimentos changed the landscape and the economy of rural properties. The work was developed through analysis of 243 projects for the acquisition of agricultural tractors that use the credit line Pronaf Mais Alimentos elaborated by the rural extension agency Emater/Ascar-RS in central region of the Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. In field research conducted in 69 rural properties we found that even considering the portion of the acquired funding, the annual gross income of the properties increased and the characteristic cultivation crops of the properties have changed. We found that in making tractor choice decision the factors considered were the engine power and value of available funding, not considering the size of the property and the maintenance costs of the purchased tractor. The modernization of rural property by acquiring the tractor should reduce physical wear and occupational risks of the work performed in the field. However, when analyzing the acquired models we found very low levels of compliance in relation to technical and regulatory standards, demonstrating that although they were brand new machines, their designs are not considering improvements in order to provide rural work with greater comfort and safety