Challenges in the consolidation of agroecology in the youth public policies: the construction experience of the National Youth and Rural Succession Plan

Abstract

In May 2016 has been launched the National Youth and Rural Succession Plan, which presented
itself as the Federal Government’s set of commitments towards the rural youth. Since
the Plan’s agroecological orientation was consensual from the beginning of its elaboration, the
present study aims to analyze in what extent agroecology is effectively present in the actions
of the Plan. In other words, in what extent agroecological concepts and experiences have
been successfully translated into public policies. In order to do so, we analyzed the social
movements’ guidelines given to the government, as well as reports and final results of national
conferences and rural youth meetings. The results point out that although agroecological
conceptions are present in the discourse of youth leaderships and also in the instances of
government linked to them, in practice there has been difficulty in designing policies that meet
these objectives and stimulate the agroecological transition of youth.