Socioeconomic Profile of Rural Communities: Insights from Brazil

This paper aims to analyze the socioeconomic profile of rural communities: insights from Brazil and contributions to rural and local development. It is necessary to investigate the main characteristics of these communities, which correspond to producers of small rural properties that fall into family agriculture, composing the communities of the micro-region of Guarapuava/PR that are 18 municipalities. Methodological procedures, documentary research, field research, and interviews with entities were used. The data were extracted from PNAD (National Household Sample Survey), IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), DERAL (Department of Rural Economy), and IPARDES (Paranaense Institute of Economic and Social Development). To collect data in the field, 80 questionnaires were applied with rural producers. The interviews were conducted with two IDR/PR entities and Rural Union of Guarapuava. The analysis is quantitative descriptive statistical basis that includes the documentary results and questionnaire responses, considering the interviews with the entities. The results obtained are knowledge of the events in the rural area in production, commercialization, succession, difficulties, and family income, among others. In addition, it was possible to verify sustainable practices in the properties, to visualize the existence of public policies, partnerships, support, and community of the places. The research shows that 67.9% of producers want to continue living in rural areas, recalling that rural communities of small farms are fundamental to sustainable rural development because they promote crop diversification and resource utilization and offer healthy products for the food security of the population.