Students as promoters of rural extension in aquaculture in the Marajó archipelago, Pará, Brazil

Aquaculture is the creation of aquatic organisms. An expanding activity, being of great importance its approach in rural extension. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the contribution of extension activities in aquaculture in the professional training of students in Marajó, Amazon, Brazil. The project “Technology transfer through training and technical assistance for tambaqui breeders, Colossoma macropomum, in the archipelago of Marajó/PA” was developed by 10 technician and under graduate students from rural education course and the technical course in aquaculture from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Pará (IFPA) Campus Breves, in the city of Curralinho. They participated in the stages of data collection in aquaculture enterprises, training for producers and monitoring of aquaculture production, acting as researchers, instructors and extension workers, respectively. The duration of the project was from August 2019 to March 2020. At the end of the project, a questionnaire was applied to the students involved. The results showed that the aquaculture extension activities developed were relevant and significant, for the construction of knowledge in a mutual way between those involved (students and aquaculture producers). The acquired experiences will substantiate and subsidize the professional practice of these students in a concrete and effective way. In conclusion, the extension project represents an excellent tool in the teaching-learning process for students.


Introduction
Rural extension is considered one of the branches of Agrarian Sciences, which is configured through educational processes (Silva et al., 2018). It is conceived as a service for informal groups and collective organizations (Pizzio & Milagres, 2018). It operates in the fields of agricultural, aquaculture and fisheries production, also in administration, food education, sanitary and ecological conditions, associations, cooperatives, solidarity economy and community action.
Thus, it has been playing a fundamental role in the dissemination of knowledge and techniques for aquaculture (Karim et al., 2020;Joffre et al., 2020).
There are several studies focused on rural extension for aquaculture farmers (Oliveira et al., 2017;Obiero et al., 2019).
They stand out in producing organisms with predominantly aquatic habitat. Thus, we can highlight fish farming , shrimp farming (Maciel & Valenti, 2014), cheloniculture (Magnusson et al., 2003), raniculture (Stéfani et al., 2015), malacoculture (Lameira- , among other aquaculture activities. These are important both from a social and economic point of view (Santiago & Surís-Regueiro, 2018), and are responsible for the continuous growth in the supply of fish to the world population (FAO, 2018).
In the northern region of Brazil, aquaculture is less developed compared to other regions of the country (IBGE, 2016).
In the State of Pará, in the Eastern Amazon, the main activity is the fish farming. However, in this region, fish farming has faced several barriers, such as: the lack of credit (O 'de Almeida Júnior & Souza, 2013); low training of labor (Oliveira et al., 2014); charging for water use (Tiago & Gianesella, 2003); poor sanitary legislation and commercialization (Freire & Gonçalves, 2013); enterprise management (Suplicy et al., 2015), high price and low quality of feed (Gonçalves et al., 2015) and scarcity and inefficiency of rural extension (Brabo et al., 2014). Such situations lead to failure in many aquaculture enterprises, including in the Marajó archipelago.
In this context, still stands out that Marajó has municipalities with low Human Development Indexes (HDI) (UNDP, IPEA, 2013). However, among its characteristics, it is worth mentioning the extensive hydrographic network, composed of basins, channels, meanders, lakes and streams, among which the Amazon, Pará, Anapu, Jacundá and Anajás rivers stand out (Crispim et al., 2016).
Given the above, the objective of the study was to report the contribution of extension activities in aquaculture in the professional training of students in the Marajó archipelago, state of Pará, Amazon region, Brazil.

Study area
The aquaculture extension project was carried out in the municipality of Curralinho, in the Marajó archipelago, Pará, Brazil ( Figure 1). Marajó is located on the Amazon coast (Amaral et al., 2012).  .

Aquaculture experience report
The project "Technology transfer Therefore, the reports obtained were analyzed and discussed with support from the scientific literature.

Results and discussion
In the present study, among the students participating in the project, 30% were male and 70% female. The age of the interviewees ranged between 24 and 37 years. All students participating in the  We realized the importance of students involved at aquaculture extension projects in Marajó, which is evidenced in the statements of some extension workers: ... The extension project is extremely important to meet the needs of fish farmers in a region that has great potential in the aquaculture sector. But, which is still very lacking in technical guidance and the project came to add knowledge and practices with the tambaqui producers ... (Student of the Technical course in Aquaculture).
... The Piscicultura Marajoara project is undoubtedly something of great importance for families living in the rural areas. Because through it we can have access to information that will benefit our properties, thus opening up a range of opportunities for fish farmers to be able to develop their activities without suffering many losses in their production. It aims to clarify any and all existing doubts, so that fish farmers can develop a fish culture on their   According to the speech of two students in the aquaculture extension project: ... The Piscicultura Marajoara project is a project that came to contribute not only for us as students, but mainly for the fish farmers who came to participate in the training, because, through the information they received they will put into practice, so they will be looking for favorable conditions for better development of your fish culture and as a result, strengthening the municipality's production chain ... (Student of the Technical course in Aquaculture).
... It was a project that brought the opportunity to clarify some doubts for small fish farmers to improve their productivity and also for students of the technical course in aquaculture to develop a work in practice thus preparing them to work in the area ... (Student of the Technical course in Aquaculture).
We observed that in the statements  In the present study, the students They saw more clearly the social, environmental and economic impacts of these activities without due care and aroused the desire to develop new projects and works that aim to benefit these social actors: ... Yes, from the extension project, several ideas emerged to carry out other projects that benefit producers and give more visibility to our local products, for this we intend to organize together with some entities of the municipality the fish fair in Curralinho ... (Student of the Technical course in Aquaculture).
... Yes, there were several changes, as research on fish farming in this project only contributed to my development as a person and also as a teacher in training. After contacting fish farmers, they hear about their experiences, and also about the great challenges that are faced in order to develop fish farming, without the support of public policies aimed at these products. Through the development of the project, I was .  ... In terms of training, I can say that it is an experience that influenced my development where I was able to learn various techniques, which will add to the technical course in aquaculture. I see this relationship as extremely important for us to be a well qualified professional in the future ... (Student of the Technical course in Aquaculture).
... Participation in the project, influenced me to want to participate in more projects, because they only have to contribute to our training. Contributing to these projects makes us different, questioning people, Silva, F. N always seeking the well-being of the population in general. It is worth mentioning that this project contributed in a huge way to my training and to my undergraduate course in general, because it showed me the various themes that must be addressed in fish farming and how much it can benefit a population that is thus prevented, the flow migration of people from their localities to the city, being able to develop in their communities sustainable and lowcost work whose central objective is to expand the life of the small producer ... (Under Graduate Student in Rural Education).
... A better understanding of the subjects, due to having studied the subjects a lot, I was able to better absorb the information that I did not understand during the classes in the classroom ... (Student of the Technical course in Aquaculture).
... Participating in the project was very rewarding, but it was also achieving our goal, which was to train those fish farmers, it was an incredible experience, where I was able to learn at the time of each presentation by colleagues and exchanges of dialogues. From this lived experience, I feel safer to perform any other activity that my training requires, because, I came to understand better that the more you study about the subject, the more dominance you have over it, so there will be no improvisation of words that may harm the approach to the topic ... (Student of the Technical course in Aquaculture).
In the present study, students were asked about the importance of teaching, ... The existing relationship between extension, teaching, and research is a diversified one, the three when together can contribute in a great way to the development of both the student and the coordinators and project directors, providing so a source of inexhaustible knowledge that will bring countless benefits both for the institution that works these three axes and for the student who is available to participate in the same .  .