Irrigation as Strengthening of Smallholder in the Municipality of Salto do Lontra

The irrigation technology for smallholder agriculture is an important instrument to increasing both productivity and income. However for the incorporation of this technology to succeed into small properties, there is a need for interlocution among the different spheres of coordination of these economic agents. In this way, the main objective of this work was to analyze the participation of the institutional and organizational environments of the district of Salto do Lontra, located in the southwestern region of Parana state, in both the dissemination and strengthening of irrigation. This region has the highest concentration of smallholders in the state, hence its relevance. A detailed analysis of the organizational environment was made, in which interviews to the representatives of the organizations werw inserted in the management process of this sector. In order to identify the efficiency of organizations and the accessibility of public credit policies, questionnaires were applied to 35 irrigating smallholders, considering local customs, values and skills. The results demonstrated that the credit policy obtained by the public authority corroborates for the permanence of this economic and social agent in the field. However, organizations work individually, without synchronizing the needs of the category. On the other hand highlighting the universities, which proved to be strong disseminators of irrigation technology locally.