The necessary dialogue between rural extension and Agroecology

Abstract

The article assumes that rural holds specifics with which it can work other possibilities besides oversizing technology as the only basis for the environmental, social, political and economic development. There is not only one rural society, but rural societies, with their productive specificities linked to the forces of nature and socio-cultural. The approach
is focused on the characterization of a new rural as it presupposes the emergence of specific and endogenous forces leading to a global insertion adapted to the local soil and climate needs and socio-economics. The rural extension needs to shape up and get flexibility in the construction process of sustainable development. However, the understanding of sustainability expressed possibilities of retaining aspects geared only to environmental preservation. When considering a new rural with endogenous forces that play key roles in technological advancement and extension intervention, agroecological approach is fundamental. In several plans interact and shape a framework in which it is bio and social diversity, including technological, cultural, political, economic and social aspects. Sustainability, then, implies a breaking of dependence on social actors towards a truly effective participation able to deepen the understanding of reality to a new articulation between research and extension. From this design agroecological
extension takes on a character of social inclusion and adapted technologies, which affects decisions on public policies in agricultural sciences beyond the production and reproduction needs of the dominant sectors.