Review - Rural Extension: trajectories and challenges

Abstract

The book “Rural Extension: Trajectories and Challenges,” organized by Alberto Bracagioli and Flávia Charão-Marques, looks at the evolution and challenges of rural extension in Brazil, highlighting its institutionalization since the late 1940s. The text traces a historical overview, from the technical cooperation agreements between Brazil and the United States, which aimed to increase agricultural productivity and improve the living conditions of the poorest populations, to the creation of organizations such as Emater and Embrater in the 1970s. From the 1980s onwards, with the influence of Paulo Freire's ideas and the re-democratization of the country, rural extension began to be rethought, incorporating more dialogic and participatory approaches.
The book also discusses the evolution of public policies for rural extension, highlighting the impact of the 1988 Constitution and the creation of the National Policy for Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Pnater) in 2010. It also addresses the contemporary challenges facing rural extension, such as sustainability, climate change and the digitalization of everyday life.
The book emphasizes the importance of valuing local knowledge and promoting interactions between different types of knowledge for rural development, questioning the idea of homogeneous modernization in agriculture. The need for an agroecological, participatory and integrated approach, involving multiple actors and promoting sustainability, is highlighted as essential for the future of rural extension in Brazil. In short, the book makes an important contribution to understanding the challenges and potential of rural extension in the current context.