RURAL EXTENSION, CAPITALISM, AND COLONIALITY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE THROUGH THE GREEN REVOLUTION

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate the process of establishing Rural Extension in Brazil in the light of the colonialist concepts associated with the Green Revolution. The research adopts a qualitative approach, based on a historical and social analysis of the introduction of these ideas into the country and their impact on the formulation of the Rural Extension model implemented during the period of the military dictatorship. The time frame covers the period from the post-World War II era, with an emphasis on the early 1960s, to the early 1980s, a phase in which the guidelines of the Green Revolution were widely disseminated by technical staff linked to research agencies and public Rural Extension institutions. The results indicate that, although this development perspective promoted significant economic advances in the short term, it also produced adverse social and environmental effects that extended over the following decades. Among these effects, the intensification of land concentration geared towards the production of agricultural commodities and the consequent worsening of social exclusion in the country stand out.