Citizen participation in Emater-RN's action planning

• Autor(a) principal: Medeiros, Jássio Pereira de
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Borges, Djalma Freire
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração Pública
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/rap/article/view/6880
• topic: technical assistance and agricultural extension; small farmers; civil participation; participation levels.; assistência técnica e extensão rural; agricultores familiares; participação cidadã; níveis de participação.

Technical assistance and agricultural extension public services in Brazil are rendered in an environment where very distinct social groups ¿ from agri- business entrepreneurs to traditional small farmers ¿ coexist. Having as theme the participation of small farmers in technical assistance and agricul- tural extension planning, this article analyzes the participatory decision- making process of Emater-RN¿s 2005 planning, using as main theoretical reference Arnstein¿s (1969) citizen participation ladder. An exploratory doc- umental and bibliographical field research, with a qualitative approach, was performed, and the data collected from different sources ¿ interviews, non- participant observations and documents ¿ was submitted to a categorical content analysis (Bardin, 1977). Results evidenced that the level of partici- pation by the farmer in the institution¿s planning is in an intermediary situa- tion between token and real participation. This permanent quest to improve participatory channels is relevant since, beyond institutionalization, the improvement and continuity of the participatory management process depend on the relation, always tensioned and increasingly qualified, between the organized society and the state.