The partnership between AOPA/Ecovida Network and the Emater Institute in the strengthening of an Agroecological Technical Assistance and Rural Extension: the experience of the Curitiba-PR, Region

Abstract

This paper aims to report on the experience of a formal partnership for Agroecological Technical
Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER) between the Emater Institute and AOPA in the
region of Curitiba-PR. The monitoring of organic production units is carried out by the Institute
throughout the state, with more emphasis on the metropolitan region of Curitiba, where 50%
of Paraná’s production is concentrated. In this sense, AOPA asked the Emater Institute for an
agroecological assistance to the farmers groups of the Ecovida Agroecology Network, resulting
in the formalization of a partnership between the two institutions. Extensionists have been
following the farmers’ groups, conducting training, collaborating in the organizational process
and assisting individual production units to advance the agroecological transition. This partnership
fundamentally seeks to achieve the common objective of the institutions, which is to
make organic farmers viable and to increase production, providing the socio-environmental
development of the region.