Drought impacts the productive sectors of agricultural schools in Rio Grande do Sul

The drought that has hit Rio Grande do Sul in recent years causes not only economic impacts, but also pedagogical ones. Much of the last harvest was lost, especially the corn crop, which serves as the basis for feeding animals that generate income for both rural producers and the various livestock sectors of agricultural schools.

In RS, 54 municipal, state, federal and private educational establishments offer agricultural courses. Of these, 25 are under the management of the State Department of Education (Seduc), as reported on the Pasta website. Around 4,000 students pass through there each year and around 1,000 agricultural technicians graduate, calculates the president of the Rio Grande do Sul Association of Agricultural Education Technical Teachers (Agptea), Fritz Roloff.

According to him, the Educational Production Units (UEPs) of agricultural schools, which work with beef and dairy cattle, poultry, pigs, rabbit farming and other creations, were greatly affected by the lack of rain. And the financial resources allocated by the State Executive are insufficient for many of the schools, which use the results of the crops to help cover fixed costs. Without this budget, decimated by the lack of water in the crops, the animals and the research suffer.

“The condition is more serious on the route from Cruz Alta to Uruguaiana, passing through the Pampa, the Northwest Frontier and the grain producing region. Schools were heavily impacted by these droughts, since their laboratories are extensions of land where agricultural and livestock experiments are carried out”, he points out.