Políticas públicas de crédito agrícola e microcrédito rural: o ilustrativo Agroamigo em Amargosa/Ba

Abstract

The agricultural microcredit program “Agroamigo” is a tool of the National Program for the Strengthening of Family Farming (PRONAF - abbreviation in Portuguese), operated by Banco do Nordeste bank, and constitutes the most important public policy for credit access for family farmers. This thesis analyzes how the Agroamigo agricultural microcredit program contributed to income generation, improvement of living standards and settlement of rural populations. The study area is the municipality of Amargosa/BA. The transformations that occurred since the implementation of the program were investigated. In addition, the level of social insertion and the perception of family farmers of different physical environments were evaluated, showing how they evaluate this microcredit policy in the municipality. Based on the hypothetico-deductive method, it assumes it is the state’s function to control and manage social demands through the formulation of public policies. The procedural method used was field research and statistical data obtained from the IBGE agricultural data survey. A comparison was made between the data from 2006 and 2017 and an empirical study conducted on the perception of the beneficiaries of the credit. The results of the research confirm the hypothesis, attesting that the program contributed to improvements in the standard of living, settlement in the field, increase of income and technology access of the farmers borrowing through the program.