University extension in family agricultural cooperative groups

This work is a report based on the extension developed by professors and students of a Federal University with cooperative/associative groups in the municipality of Parauapebas (PA). It assumes that Teaching, Research, and Extension are inseparable and can contribute to strengthening and developing local entrepreneurial actions. The methodology used was action research, a research procedure with an extensionist character. Students from the focus discipline conduct propositional diagnoses in cooperatives, providing subsidies to the local public authorities in serving cooperative groups. Results revealed that the work done in the cooperatives awakens the critical and professional sense of the involved students, allowing them to understand the problems and, based on the presented scenario and the knowledge already theoretically acquired, propose improvements in management, production, and/or commercialization practices. Thus, it is concluded that the used methodology contributed to expanding knowledge and exchanging experiences among the involved producer groups, the Higher Education Institution, and local public authorities, generating prospects for the primary economic vector of the municipality, mineral extraction.