HISTÓRICO, CARACTERIZAÇÃO E DINÂMICA RECENTE DO PRONAF – PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE FORTALECIMENTO DA AGRICULTURA FAMILIAR

In this article we discuss the importance and the trajectory of the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (Pronaf), created in 1996. After making a brief discussion over the historical struggles of the organizations of rural workers' in favor of an specific agricultural policy for this social group, in the second section we analyzed the objectives and main operational characteristics of the program, the institutional changes that were underway and the performance in terms of financial resources allocated to family farmers. Among the main conclusions, we highlighted that the program allowed access to rural credit to a large number of family farmers who were not yet inserted in the financial market, and at the same time the program gained national capillarity, being present in all regions of the country. We also observed that some distortions would need to be continually corrected in order the program could fully accomplish all its purposes.