Direct procurement from family farms for national school feeding programme in Brazil

Research

By Claudia Rodriguez, Iris Emanuelly Segura, Ana Paula Cantarino Frasão de Carmo, Daniela Bicalho, Vanessa Manfre Garcia Souza, Flavia Schwartzman and Betzabeth Slater

Claudia Rodriguez is a researcher at the School of Public Health at Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil. She is a nutrition graduate of the Universidad Industrial de Santander in Colombia. In 2013 she joined a research project on the impact of family farming in a school feeding programme at USP under the supervision of Professor Betzabeth Slater.

Iris Emanuelly Segura, Ana Paula Cantarino Frasão de Carmo, Daniela Bicalho and Vanessa Manfre Garcia Souza are nutritionists and postgraduate students at the School of Public Health at Universidade de Sao Paulo. They research family farming and school feeding under the supervision of Professor Slater.

Flavia Schwartzman has a PhD in Public Health Nutrition from the Universidade de São Paulo. She has worked as an international consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) since 2011, supporting the strengthening of school-feeding programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Betzabeth Slater is a professor and researcher at the School of Public Health at USP. A nutrition graduate from the National University of San Marcos, Peru, she has a PhD in Public Health. In 2012, she initiated a research project on the impact of family farming in school feeding programmes at USP, reflected in this article.

This article describes the preliminary investigation directed by Professor Betzabeth Slater.The authors gratefully acknowledge the Foundation for Research of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP) for funding this work.

Location: Brazil

What we know: Brazilian legislation obligates minimum purchase levels of food from family farms to supply the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) when using federal funds.

What this article adds: A cross-sectional study of 40 municipalities in São Paulo, Brazil, suggested an upward trend in the proportion of municipalities procuring family-farmed food for the PNAE from 47% to 67.5%. Purchases are largely local, from individual farmers, farming associations and cooperatives. Challenges remain when it comes to the successful implementation of policy; political will, government support and the organisational efficiency of the family farmers involved may impact on the success of local procurement.

 

In June 2009, the Federal Government of Brazil passed legislation (Law 11,947/2009) which regulates the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) and consolidates its links with family farms (FFs). Under the legislation, at least 30% of all funds which the federal government transfers to States and municipalities must be used to buy food from FFs, and a bidding process is not required¹. A recent study found that 47% of municipalities in the State of São Paulo had bought food from FFs at least once between June 2009 and August 2011 (Slater et al, 2013). This confirms that local procurement for the PNAE had not yet been implemented in all the municipalities analysed. The implementation of local procurement is known to be a complex process involving different sectors and levels of government and demands coordinated action. Consequently, the aim of this study was to check the percentage of direct procurement from FFs for the PNAE in the State of São Paulo in 2012 and describe the main features of the process.

Method

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in São Paulo in 2012 as part of a research project to assess the level of implementation of direct procurement from FFs for the PNAE (Slater, 2011). The survey was based on a probability sample of 40 municipalities. A structured questionnaire was completed (telephone or email) by a civil servant in the school meals management department of each municipal council.

The direct procurement of food from FFs for the PNAE was the dependent variable. The independent variables were: PNAE management method, value of the municipality contribution, value of funds transferred by the federal government for the PNAE, and provenance of the farmers who sold food for the PNAE. Proportions and averages were used for the descriptive analysis; to analyse the correlation between variables, these were dichotomised and Fisher’s exact test was used with a statistical significance level of p≤0.05.

Results

The percentage of direct procurement from FFs for the PNAE in 2012 was 67.5%. In the same year, the average funds in US dollars which the central government transferred to the municipalities was $317,910.87, ranging from $14,733 to $2,103,721, while the average municipality contribution for the PNAE was $680,746, ranging from $0.00 to $8,785,240. Of the 40 municipalities analysed, four did not make any contribution and six did not respond. PNAE management was centralised in 80% of municipalities; decentralised in 10%; mixed in 7.5%; and outsourced in 2.5%.

Of the 27 municipalities that had implemented direct procurement from FFs for the PNAE, 59% used FFs in the actual municipality. These comprised 44 individual farmers, 23 farming associations and 16 farming cooperatives.

Analysis of the correlation between direct procurement from FFs for the PNAE (dependent variable) and the existence of municipality contribution and centralised PNAE management method (independent variables) did not reveal any correlation when they were dichotomised, (p-value 0.63; 0.68, respectively). Similarly, no correlation was found between the remaining variables examined.

Discussion

Since the enactment of Law 11,947/2009, the PNAE has played two crucial roles: as a public policy vehicle for guaranteeing the human right to adequate food, and as a key food safety and nutrition strategy affecting both schools and family farmers. The results suggest an upward trend in the percentage of municipalities that have implemented direct procurement from FFs for the PNAE, rising from 47% (Slater et al, 2013; Saraiva et al, 2013) to 67.5%. The findings are consistent with a similar analysis of 63 municipalities in the State of São Paulo, where 76.2% bought products from FFs for the PNAE between January 2012 and November 2013 (Bandoni et al, 2014).

It is encouraging that purchases are largely being made in the same municipality; this presupposes that there is not only a dialogue between the various players involved in the process, but the political will to implement it (Bezerra et al, 2013; De Camargo et al, 2013).

The minimum purchasing power of the municipalities that did not buy products from FFs was US$4,419, a sum that would support at least one family farm per year. The maximum sale value by a family farm in 2012 was US$4,404.

In conclusion, although the percentage of municipalities that have implemented local procurement has increased, when it comes to the successful implementation of public policies challenges remain which go beyond economic resources. Political will, government support and the organisational efficiency of the family farmers involved may well impact on the success of local procurement, but these factors must be confirmed by more extensive studies.

For more information, contact: Claudia Andrea Rodriguez Mora, email: clauromo@usp.br

For more experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean, including detailed case studies, see FAO, 2014. School feeding and possibilities for direct purchases from family farms. Case studies from eight countries. www.fao.org/3/a-i3413e.pdf

References

Bandoni et al 2014 – Bandoni DE, Stedefeldt E, Amorin ALB, Barbosa Gonçalves HV, De Rosso VV. Health regulation challenges for the safety of food acquired from family farms for School Meals. Vigilância Sanitária em Debate: Sociedade. Ciência & Tecnologia. v 2, n 4, p. 107–14. 2014.

Bezerra OM, Bonono É, Da Silva CAM, Da Silva Correa M, De Souza AA, Dos Santos PCT, Da Silva ML et al. Promoting the purchase of family farm products for school meals in Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo States, Brazil. Revista de Nutrição. v 26, n 3, p. 335–42, 2013.

De Camargo RAL, Baccarin JG, Silva DBP. The role of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) and the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) in strengthening family agriculture and promoting food security. Temas de Administração Pública. v 8, n 2, 2013. seer.fclar.unesp.br/temasadm/article/view/6846

Saraiva et al, 2013 – Saraiva EB, Ferreira da Silva AP, Araújo de Sousa A, Cerqueira Fernandes G, Chagas dos Santos CM, Toral, N. Panorama of purchasing food products from family farmers for the Brazilian School Nutrition Programme. Ciênc. saúde coletiva. v 18, n 4: p. 927-35, 2013.

Slater et al, 2013 – Slater BV, Januario BL, Jamile FR, Schwartzman F. Situation of the Municipalities of São Paulo State in relation to the purchase of products directly from family farms for the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE). Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia v 16, n 1, p. 223-26, 2013. www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext

Slater, 2011 – Slater BV. The National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) and family farming: evaluation of the implementation process and the possible effects of local purchases, under Law 11.947 / 2009. São Paulo; 2011. Technical-scientific report presented to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São