Um programa, contextos distintos: um estudo sobre PNAE no território do Alto Jequitinhonha

Abstract

In the 1990s it was established in Brazil an intense academic and political debates scenario, concerning food production. The modernization of the agriculture did not lead to a homogenization in the forms of production, and peasant-based family farming reorganized forms of permanence in the countryside, affirming their relevance in food production. These social subjects who were always marginalized began to have recognition and to demand specific public policies. The National School Feeding Program (PNAE) is an example of including the family farmer in the institutional market. Thus, the objective of this dissertation was to understand the consequences of the PNAE for the peasant-based family farming in the Upper Jequitinhonha / MG Territory, observing the productive alimentary agenda and pressure of the use of natural resources. In order to reach these objectives in a territory composed of 20 municipalities, it was decided to carry out a sample survey in two municipalities, Datas and Turmalina. The qualitative research included the use of secondary data from the FNDE, Census of Agriculture 2006 and João Pinheiro Foundation and also data collection in the field, with the program's managing institutions, representative organizations of family agriculture and with the family farmers involved in the program. The analysis of the PNAE in the cities surveyed pointed to a pattern that permeates political relations and forms of organization in localities. In the municipality of Turmalina the organizations representing family agriculture established a balancing point of forces between social actors, and both a network architecture and a "shared management" of programs was established. In Datas dominates a management marked by distancing between the actors and a field of dispute, where participation is limited, establishing a "centralized management". The institutional purchase of family agriculture by the PNAE came up against some difficulties: transportation, seasonality of production and planning. It was observed that most of the management institutions did not reach the minimum purchase required by law of 30% of the FNDE resource. Despite the difficulties encountered in the operationalization of the program in relation to the purchase of family agriculture products, it was observed that the PNAE reached its objectives in the municipalities, since with greater or less effectiveness, there was diversification of production, product improvement, increase of income from participating farmers, establishing another institutional sales channel for family farming, promoting food security and food sovereignty. Such PNAE results were made possible through the flexibilization of the program to diversities, providing a dialogue with the localities, where "a program" has been conducted to "several realities".