Public policies in Brazil and Scotland: challenges and possibilities for family farming

• Grant number: 15/14714-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 01, 2015
• End date: January 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Rosangela Aparecida de Medeiros Hespanhol
• Grantee: Carla Hentz
• Supervisor: Brian Gerard Garvey
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Strathclyde, Scotland
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/02873-4 - The Program of Acquisition of Foods (PAA) as estrategy of socioeconomic reproduction in the micro-region of Chapecó–SC, BP.MS

Abstract

The aim of completing the scholarship in the Department of Human Resource Management, part of the Strathclyde University in Scotland is to analyze the public policies for rural development directed to support and encourage the small family farming, in particular the National Food Program of Scotland. This program has been developed considering as target the 'Crofters' - small family farmers of small scale, social and economical production and existence; yet a valuable social, economic and environmental resource. This analysis is intended to compare this with the rural development program, which has been studied in our master's degree at UNESP: the Food Acquisition Program - (in Portuguese: Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos - PAA). Considering this, the main objectives will include the importance of the National Food Program of Scotland to the strengthening of Crofts, its influence on small producers and their representative organizations (cooperatives/associations) and the role these entities have been playing in Scotland, compared to those projects defined and implemented in Brazil (specially in the Geographic Micro Region of Chapecó). Through the internship, it will be possible to know and investigate the reality of Crofters in Scotland, as well as to understand, compare and to analyze public policies for rural development in Brazil from an external perspective, with differing realities. Furthermore, it will be valuable for the understanding of research methodologies applied by Scottish researchers across academic disciplines, which will definitely contribute to the prosecution of regular research in Brazil.