O uso da inovação tecnológica na agricultura familiar e a relação com a sustentabilidade em Ouro Verde do Oeste

Abstract

Technological innovations have been playing an extremely important role in the growth and development of productive enterprises in the market, with emphasis on family farming, driven by benefits from innovations in terms of quality of life, productivity, competitiveness and profitability. However, this perception is not uniform among all participants with characteristics of a small farmer. Given the above, this research had the general objective of presenting how the use of technological innovation in family farming is related to sustainability in Ouro Verde do Oeste. It was based on the premise that technological innovations provide greater agility in agricultural and agricultural production, being the main motivating factor for family farmers in the search for this technological equipment. To achieve this objective, a qualitative research methodology with an exploratory approach was applied. Data were collected based on primary sources, from November to December 2019, through participant observation and interviews with open and closed questions in the municipality of Ouro Verde do Oeste. The interviews were attended by 25 respondents, who work in family farming in that municipality. The results allowed to verify that the participants are aware of the benefits of technological innovations, however, the innovations implanted in their properties in the last 2 years were only of low technology equipment and of high labor intensity. However, the use of technological innovation in family farming is not related to sustainability in the research results. From this, it was found that the motivation for purchasing agricultural equipment in the field is influenced by several factors such as communication media and neighbors. Thus, the sustainability factors were not verified as relevant in the decision making of these farmers.