Natureza sócio-técnica e administração de estações experimentais agropecuárias

Abstract

The understanding of all administrative activities inside Experimental Stations imply in not having the administrator as part of the research process. This brought a lot of questions about how should work an Experimental Station close to the development appropriate agriculture in Brasil where the research has fundamental contributions to give. The dificulties associated with the administrative process of Experimental Stations show clearly a lack of normal operation proper of those organizations; and suggested a better understanding of how and why the great factors evolving social and technical activities are related to the administrative process at the Experimental Stations. The study of all aspects inherent to the administrations technical and social actions of Experimental Station was done, as part of one research project to understand the relationship between the administration system and the technical and social activities of one Experimental Station. The main objective of this research was the identification of each function that is part of the administrative process, and the social and technical actions of research stations throughout the analysis of their responsabilities as part of the sector of public research and based on the participation of other sector, to figure out the possibilities of Experimental Stations to contribute for the regional development. The analyse of part of the research sector of IAPAR intend to demonstrate that Experimental Stations do not perform their social and technical tasks since to complete those tasks related administrative process shoud take place and, at social level the limitations to attend the rural population carne from a lack of generation of appropriated technologies. In theory Stations were built to be responsable for two important functions: technical administrative and social. Based on the interrelation of those theoric presuposed a third category was created with reference to social and technical function of Experimental stations. The methodology employs purpose of qualitative methods to analyse the pretending responsabilities and activities that should be carried out by each regional experimental station. This is done as a systematic study of documentation and taped half-open interview with the administrators of the Experimental Stations, researches, rural extentions and farmers. The oficial proposal of the public research for Paraná State is compared to the performance of IAPAR, as a public organization, and others employed agents. The obtained results showed that since the public research organizations had followed centralized decisions the process to decide about priorities had í vertical direction with concentration on test of new technologies employing a methodology of local technology by crop supported by the concept of modern technology with detriment the generation of technologies suitable for each condition where the station is located. A lack of link between the research programs and the needs of the each region, looking for the modernization, brought the administrator to a position of responsible for execution of specific activities. The shortness of the participation of the administrator at the process where the research programming takes place did close him in the station with serious limitations for the interaction between researches and administrators. This situation reduce the envolvement of the administrator into the research that does not allow him to know about what kind of work is going to be done at the Experimental Station, with consequent difficulties for planning the demand of support. A lack of informations that enable the administrator to make a good plan to support the research programs added to the reduced versatility, common in public administration, bring serious problems to the administrator. At this situation the administrators are facing abnormal situations that make him to be always working in emergency case. Beside those problems to attend the daily base activities is very time consuming that does not allow the administrator to go out of the Experimental Station to exchange informations with the external people. This inside staying of the administrator drops the relationship among research, extension and formers that should be improved by the administrator. A lack of relationship among those sectors of the farm production is responsible also for the obstacle that does not allow the income from the productive systems to the research programs. Is visible that a weak relationship among research, extension and farmers plus a vertical direction of the research put a station outside of regional environment. Not only a kind of work but also a high control of the conditions for experimentation, always based on modern techniques, brings the Station far from the situation at the farm with loss of regional representativity by the station pointed out by different agents of researches and rural society. Is possible to deduce that the described situation always do not motivate the administrator and became worst face a lack of perspective for a profissional development with a consequent loss of motivation. The administrator face a big number of barriers that affects the design of one plan for the activities of one Experimental Station inside its own envi ronment. For sure farmers are quite far from the Station because of absence of activities that maintain the Station inside the regional environment, especially those one carried out by the administrator. Due to the limitations enforced by the management of the Station, itself does not work to meet with requirements of each region with unavoidable losses for the farmers., that is the central point to be considered by the research programs, especially because of a lack of technologies proper for the actual social situation in each region where the experimental Stations were build. As a matter of fact the level of relationship between farmers and Station-are dependent on how close of the requirement of the region are the results obtained by the research projects. Is clear that there is a relationship between the social/technical functions and the management of experimental Stations that should be analysed together to design the style of regional work that should be done by the Experimental Stations.