Perceptions of Brazilian small-scale farmers about genetically modified crops

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of small-scale farmers in Brazil towards genetically modified (GM) crops based on a sample of 15 focus groups involving 111 individuals. The analysis of the corpus shows heterogeneous perceptions regarding these crops, shaped by diverse factors, including economic prospects and concerns with the impact on health and the environment. There are many misgivings about these effects among the farmers, who are keen to receive unbiased information on the topic. These uncertainties affect them more as consumers, as most would prefer eating GM-free food, than as producers, as they consider other aspects, especially economic feasibility, when deciding what to grow. Although most farmers believe they should have a voice in decision-making on agricultural issues, few have made concerted efforts to be heard.

Risk Amplification, Risk Preference and Acceptance of Transgenic Technology

“…Some authors have studied the perceptions of farmers about GM products. American farmers have a broadly positive view of GMOs regardless of scale, whereas few small-scale farmers in Brazil had well-defined opinions in relation to GM crop cultivation, and many of them were illiterate [33]. In India, about 82% of farmers were aware of biotechnology, and about 77% were aware of GM crops.…”

Perception of producers and consumers on the adoption of genetically modified food: the case of the transgenic bean BRSFC401 RMD

“…Regarding the adoption of genetically modified cultivars, studies show that farmers' decisions are made based on several factors, such as: expected profit, availability of land, and ease of agricultural credit (Feder et al, 1985;Souza Filho et al, 2011), greater propensity to price and production risk (Abdulai & Huffman, 2005;Ashraf et al, 2009;Langyintuo & Mungoma, 2008), perception of lower production costs, reduction of pesticides and increased productivity (Almeida et al, 2015), scale of production (Abdulai et al, 2008), greater education and professional qualification (Feder et al, 1985;Lacky, 1998;Hartog et al, 2009), ability to obtain and process information, and ability to use agricultural techniques and management methods (Baron & Shane, 2008), professional experience in non-agricultural activities and exchange of information on social networks (Doye et al, 2000;Hartog et al, 2009). Studies also include the age factor, since youngers farmers have more knowledge about transgenic cultivars (Todua et al, 2017) and are more easily attracted to novelties (Anosike & Coughenour, 1990;D'Souza et al, 1993).…”

“…Based on previous studies (Feder et al, 1985;Lacky, 1998;Abdulai et al, 2008;Ashraf et al, 2009;Hartog et al, 2009; Souza Filho et al, 2011;Almeida et al, 2015;Todua et al, 2017), information was gathered from producers on: age, gender, distance from farm to city, total area of property (in ha), level of education, place of residence, length of experience in the activity (in…”

PhD existence 11: Česko-slovenská psychologická konference (nejen) pro doktorandy a o doktorandech. Sborník odborných příspěvků

“…USA, Argentína a Brazília patria k najväčším producentom a vývozcom genetickymodifikovaných plodín na svete (Almeida et al, 2015;Capalbo et al, 2015). Z výsledkov štúdií (Almeida et al, 2015;Almeida & Massarani, 2018;Massarani et al, 2013) vyplýva, že argentínski a brazílski farmári sú s technológiami genetickej modifikácie spokojní. Najväčšie prínosy vnímajú v starostlivosti o geneticky modifikované plodiny, pretože je s nimi menej práce a vynášajú im väčšie zisky.…”