The inequality of credit distribution of Pronaf, between regions and types of family farmers, has been indicated in many studies. To investigate this question, the research analyzes the evolution of Pronaf credit financings in Brazil, facing its decomposition in the effects number of contracts, average value of contracts and geographic localization. It can be concluded that, in the initial phase of the Program, a great increase in the contract number was verified, with dispersion of financings for states of poorer family farming, situated mainly in the Northeastern region in Brazil. This expansion continued until 2006, also followed, since 2003, by the increase in the average size of contracts. Since then, the expansion of the credit has been based exclusively on the increase of the average size of contracts and on the growing participation of states of capitalized agriculture in its distribution. As a result of this change, which may be associated with changes in the rules of the program, the inequality of the distribution of its financings is increasing.
Family agriculture; credit; Pronaf; distribution
