29. Promotion of Alternative Income Diversification in Rural Rio de Janeiro: Making Use of Innovation Resources

In the northwest region of Rio de Janeiro state, where many rural households base their income on unproductive farm activities, federal subsidies, and social help, young family members migrate, threatening the sustainable economic development of the region. As answer to the problem, the government of Rio de Janeiro has promoted the adoption of methodological and technological innovations in several micro-watersheds for the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources through the RIO RURAL program. A big challenge the program faces is to improve the quality of life in the countryside by conciliating these measures with increasing and stable revenues for the households. Since income diversification practices reduce the inherent risk of price volatility of commodities, this chapter offers an insight on the sources of income diversification of 200 rural households that benefited from the RIO RURAL program. The analysis shows that most households diversify or plan to diversify their income based on conventional strategies on-farm, or alternative off-farm employment, following the path that causes the original problems. In this context, the chapter describes an applied methodology for promoting alternative income diversification strategies in the region, taking advantage of the recently enriched innovation resources and involving young labor force. The results endorse the further application of the methodology in other regions.