The financing of the sustainable production in family farming

an analysis of PRONAF in the state of Bahia

Abstract

Given the importance of family farming for the state of Bahia and the policies that encourage sustainable production in Brazil, this work aims to present a balance of PRONAF´s “Verde” credit lines in the state of Bahia in recent years, as well as to discuss the potentialities and main challenges of these lines for sustainable production. This research was based on data from the Rural Credit Data Matrix (MDCR, abbreviation in portuguese) of the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB, abbreviation in portuguese), in the last Agricultural Census conducted in 2017 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE, abbreviation in portuguese), in a literature review related to the theme and on a set of national and state laws and policies that support policies aimed at family farming and sustainable production. The methodological path of this research allowed combining data and information in order to confront the performance of the politic in the state with the socioproductive´s reality of family farming. The results of the research indicate that the credit lines of PRONAF´s “Verde” are an important credit policy for sustainable base production. However, some structural and institutional obstacles are still determinant for the poor performance of politics in the state, which increasingly compromises the transition to more sustainable production systems.

Keywords: Rural credit. Public policy. Sustainable production.