Educational program about milk quality: cultural, social and technological aspects

Abstract

Considering that the concept of sustainability of the rural production involves not only the ecological vision of the production but also cultural, political, and social dimensions, an educational program about milk quality was structured, based on Paulo Freire pedagogic theories, to be implemented within family producers of Pirassununga, SP. The main objective of the research, characterized as participant qualitative research, was to verify the technological, cultural and social alterations induced by the program. While the cultural alterations were identified through the change in the perception about the challenges of milk related activities, in special related to the milk quality, the social changes were identified through the frequency and quality of the work in group. The technological alterations considered were: somatic cell count (SCC) and total bacterial count (TBC). The project involved five phases: general diagnosis; educational diagnosis; open participation planning; execution of educational activities and final evaluation. The results indicated an evolution in the perception of producers with reference to milk quality and the role of quality for the community development. Following, producers started to draw strategies for the improvement of quality. With regard to the social aspects a change was observed in the perception of the benefits of the work in group. These alterations made possible an effective improvement in quality of the milk produced by the participants. The main associated factor for the improvement of quality (SCC and TBC) was the presence of the producer in each of the phases of the program.