Abstract:
The objective of the article is to analyze the evolution of agreements entered into by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) with subnational entities in the period from 2008 to 2021. It is argued that agreements are an important dimension for thinking about public agricultural policies of the country, given its allocation of financial resources and discretionary in relation to investment issues. From a theoretical point of view, it is discussed from the theory that deals with the instruments of public policies and the institutional arrangement related to voluntary transfers of Union resources. Data referring to the phenomenon were collected on the Mais Brasil Platform and subjected to content analysis. It was found that agreements aimed at promoting policies for women, training farmers, quilombolas and agrarian reform decreased over time, while agreements aimed at purchasing agricultural machinery and equipment increased significantly. The article concludes that the Brazilian institutional arrangement means that agreements are instrumentalized as a way of allocating resources according to political interests, with overlapping resources in the southern region of Brazil. The article defends a greater role for the Union as coordinator of the financial resources distribution process in order to avoid assistance gaps and accumulation of resources in certain regions.
Keywords:
public policies; agreements; public policy instruments; agriculture