Impactos do programa de aquisição de alimentos na organização e sustentação da pequena produção familiar no Agreste Paraibano

Abstract

The Food Acquisition Program (Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos - PAA) was created in 2003 and aimed at strengthening family agriculture through institutional purchase and also through distribution of its products to people in situations of food and nutritional insecurity. Thus, the objective of this thesis is to investigate the impacts of the Food Acquisition Program on the organization and support of small family production in a region of the state of Paraiba known as Agreste Paraibano. In order to have this objective accomplished, a study was carried out on the Program, identifying its scope in terms of municipalities served, using data available on the Conab website. Simultaneously, a field research was carried out with beneficiary suppliers of five Associations that participated in the PAA in Agreste Paraibano, in the municipalities of Araçagi, Areia, Esperança, Itatuba and Lagoa Seca. Results have shown that the PAA has a low coverage of municipalities, not only in the state of Paraíba, but in the country as a whole. Despite this, the PAA represents an achievement in the struggle of farmers portrayed in a portion of its territory, with the encouragement of the use of sustainable productive practices and healthy eating. On the other hand, it is a threatened achievement, given the fact that this territory is fleeting in the sense that it can be undone with the change in the direction of government policies. The PAA practically has come to an end, with resources cuts from the Federal government.Data collected has shown that the PAA had an impact on the communities surveyed, causing a revival in the settlements, with improved income through purchases guaranteed by the government, reduced dependence on middlemen and channeled production to agroecological fairs. With the end of the PAA, there was a remaining feeling described by many interviewees as “disillusionment” and many farmers have no choice but to return to depend on the sale of products to middlemen. Despite this scenario of deconstruction of public policy, field research shows that farmers do not think about leaving the field, creating ways to maintain their families’ livelihood, with open fairs as an important channel for marketing production.