Agroecology Meets Bureaucracy: The Gap Between Policy and Practice

Picture a farmer in Brazil, growing beans, cassava, and vegetables on just a few hectares. He learns from his neighbor that the government has created a public financing program for small farmers, called PRONAF, or the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming. The program offers low-interest loans to help farmers invest in their land and livelihoods.

But when he goes to the bank, the farmer is asked for guarantees, documents, and technical assistance that he doesn’t have. He leaves confused, frustrated and empty-handed.

This scene, repeated across Brazil, reveals the distance between agroecology and public policy. Despite well-meaning attempts to make government policy more responsive to the needs of farmers and agroecology practitioners, policies often seem to not be designed for the communities they are meant to serve.