Organizações de lavradores e o PNAE: o caso de Turmalina no Vale do Jequitinhonha mineiro

Abstract

Situated in the Alto Jequitinhonha region, the municipality of Turmalina is an example of capture and management of public policies. In order to achieve this effective management efficiency, specifically in the National School Feeding Program - PNAE, which was the target of this research, a long process of building an organized civil society was necessary. This was triggered by specific historical processes in the region, from state development programs that granted large areas of land in plated environments to eucalyptus and coffee monoculture companies. This has led to intense conflicts with traditional family farmers who for centuries had the customary possession of these areas. The loss of a space that was part of the socio-productive relationship of this population limited a way of life that interfered drastically in the conditions of survival, leading them to seek alternatives to stay on their land. One of these, if not the main alternative, was the mobilization and organization of these populations that came to the field of direct and indirect conflict with the private sector and the state. In Turmalina the organization of the base was strengthened and consolidated into two institutions the CAV (Alternative Agriculture Center Vicente Nica) and AFTUR (Association of Tournament Feirators) that are reference and support to family farmers in the municipality. Together with other institutions, such as EMATER and the Union of Rural Workers, they form a network with broad participation of all spheres of society, which work together to consolidate a social management of public policies.