Rural Policies: an Evaluation in South Portugal. Innovating Rural Evaluation

Abstract

This chapter presents the results of an analysis of the processes of change in the Portuguese rural marginal areas. The aim of the research was to understand the socio-economic dynamic of the rural areas and particularly the attitudes of the farmers to common policies and the market. In this way, the objective was to construct support instruments for decision-making to create conditions for economically sustainable agriculture within the framework of an integrated rural development. The regions analysed were, from the Mediterranean region, Alentejo and Serra Algarvia. The study was based on the present but it maintained an evolutionary perspective through comparison with previous situations, mainly in the sixties and seventies. Thus, the aim was to have a global picture of agricultural activity in the last decades in order to understand the dynamics of change and the structural characteristics of marginalisation in the areas studied.