Public policy for agricultural credit: The case of Brazilian Pronaf and its characteristics

This paper aims to conduct a general review of academic literature to analyze the National Program for the Strengthening of Family Farming (Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar - PRONAF), established in Brazil by Presidential Decree in 1996 to promote Family Farming through credits subsidized by the Brazilian State and, in this way, meeting the demands of the social agents involved in this branch of activity. For a better understanding of the theme, this paper is divided into four sections: An Introduction, which presents papers explaining the historical context of the creation and lines of credit with financing conditions, evolution, and structure, which contains papers showing the changes that have occurred in the structure over the years. In the objectives and distribution of resources, works have been presented that point out possible problems, such as the lack of equity in the PRONAF range in each Brazilian state, and in the economic and social development, where the impacts of the program have been highlighted by some authors and the most recent data about this public policy that aims to leverage the agrarian sector, especially Family Farming, are presented.