Risk Management Applied to Brazilian Family Agriculture

Although hazards exist in all agricultural settings—particularly for the family farmer—uncertainties related to production place food security and family subsistence at risk. The objective of this study was therefore to analyze the components of risk management applied to family farming. To this end, we performed an exploratory study using data from a statistical survey of the 2018 Agricultural Census. Our results showed risks that were classified between medium and high. We observed that 45.8% of producers received retirement funds, implying they tend to be an older population. As a result, family succession work aimed at strengthening agricultural activities through technical assistance and rural extension (ATER) are necessary, since 80.1% of properties do not receive specialized guidance. We also found that 59% of the producers are not registered with the Declaration of Aptitude to Pronaf (DAP), which is an instrument used to access differentiated public programs. In this case, we observed that 52.2% of credit comes from government programs, with Pronaf accounting for the highest volume of credit (40.2% of resources). Using these data, we find that integrated risk management contributes to the daily activities of the rural producer, promotes the continuous improvement of the family business, assists in decision-making, and ultimately results in a reduction of losses and increases family income.