Políticas públicas e desenvolvimento local : o Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA) no município de Cajazeiras - PB

Abstract

The creation of public policies for social and territorial development in Brazil has been presenting significant changes through its historical process of territorial establishment. In this historical course social problems are manifested through issues related to the process of spatial organization of production, distribution of resources, and are intensified by regional problems related to the droughts in the Northeast Region. The creation of programs to meet this region’s necessities has being performed since the beginning of the Imperial Period with Dom Pedro II, who has depicted the urgency of bringing water to the northeastern hinterlands. They have continued with the creation of agencies in the 20th century such as the IFOCS, the IOCS and lately the DNOCS. At the end of this century, a program has been created in order to contribute to the development of family-based agricultural activities in the countryside, the Pronaf – National Program for the Strengthening of Family Farming; and at the beginning of the 21st century, public policies aimed at the population in poverty and food and nutritional vulnerability emerge. Examples are the Zero Hunger Program (PFZ) and the PAA. Given this context, emphasizing the PAA as one of the lines of action of the PFZ, an analysis will be conducted for understanding the role of this policy over spatial dynamics and socio-territorial transformations in rural communities of the municipality of Cajazeiras – PB. Since the creation of the program in 2003, it has been structured through decrees in order to meet as many producers as possible, thus contributing to the growth and strengthening of rural activities. In this research, a quali-quantitative method was conducted through a case study in rural communities, considering an overview of the program's performance in the context of the referred municipality. Surveys were applied to the producers who supplied the PAA between 2013 and 2016, as well as interviews were conducted with those responsible for the program from 2009 to 2012. With the data analysis, it is assumed the existence of two distinct stages in the program development process, appointed by the producers: one portrays the executive coordination performance of the PAA between 2009 and 2012, and the other from 2013 to 2016. It was also observed a process of reduction in the number of producers since 2009, as well as an exposition of positive and negative aspects in the performance of the program, in accordance with the program’s management. This is, in a certain way, what allows and restricts the process of development or transformation of rural communities in the municipality of Cajazeiras - PB.