Diagnóstico do uso de técnicas de calagem e aubação dos assentamentos rurais do estado de São Paulo: estudo de caso

In the context of the project “Development and qualification of agriculturists in the use of techniques for correction of theground in agricultural assentament”, the identification of the use of agricultural techniques becomes necessary as an important tool for decision taking, mainly in regards to the public politics of Assistance Technique and Agricultural Extension (ATER). In such a way, the present study it had for objectiveto diagnosis the use of limeand fertilization techniques in these agricultural assentamentin order to identify possible public politics ATER. Of the total of boarded families, 79.89% had answered to the questionnaire elaborated for this diagnosis. The field research was carried throughapplication of questionnaire elaborated for this study and the analysis of the results divided in profile of the beneficiaries, knowledge of techniques of ground handling and agricultural use of the areas of the Projects of Assentamentfor the beneficiaries. It was concluded that even so the great majority of the beneficiaries agricultural area and farmers to be declared diligent of this information are not in coherence with the one of knowledge of the type of ground, therefore, this type of understanding of the landscape is primordial for the taking of decision with regard to the agricultural use of the ground, moreover, the access to the knowledge and use of the techniques of limeand fertilization comes diminishing in the agricultural assentamentunder validity of II National Plan of the Agrarian Reformation, what it enters in total discord with the premises of the same. It fits here to detach the importance of public politics ATERdirected these beneficiaries of the Agrarian Reformation, mainly with regard to the ground handling.

Consumption Diagnosis of Sweet Cassava in three Municipalities in Cuba

Cassava is an important staple food for human and animal feeding in Cuba. Despite its importance, there is little or nonexistent information to diagnose preferences and frequency of consumption of cassava in that country. In this sense, the present article characterizes the preferences and frequency of consumption of cassava in the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución-La Habana province, El Salvador–Guantanamo province and San José de Las Lajas–Mayabeque province in Cuba. A survey was conducted through a questionnaire containing twelve closed and two open questions. The sample was determined based on the number of total population of each municipality considering 95% as confidence interval and 5% as error margin. The results were statistically analyzed by calculating the absolute and the relative frequencies of each question. It was observed that the acquisition of cassava in the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución, El Salvador and San José de las Lajas in Cuba is done by purchase small quantities of fresh cassava for home consumption within one week, due to the extreme perishability of cassava, which limits consumers' ability to store fresh roots at home. The choice of cassava is made based on both skin colour (light brown) and pulp (white) and empirical knowledge about its ease of cooking, and that cassava is mostly consumed in boiled and fried forms up to four times a week in times where there is root market supply with the desirable culinary characteristics (cooking facility), that is, from September to December.

Effects of research and extension on agricultural growth and equity in Brazil.

Studies the effects of investment in research and extension on total agricultural production and on production of individual crops. Some distributional effects are briefly discussed. Due to the lack of data, the first part of the analysis is restricted to the State of Sao Paulo, and the second part covers the entire country.-from Author