by MARIO OSAVA
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 7, 2010 (IPS) – Brazil has become an agricultural power in recent decades as a result of know-how that is now an important export item and part of its international cooperation programme. But the technology developed does not reach the vast majority of farmers within the country itself.
Poverty, including lack of schooling, information and integration into modern society, means that 3.3 million Brazilian farms are worked by people who are “unable to assimilate the technologies” that could increase their productivity and earnings, according to Pedro Arraes, the president of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA).
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