Food acquisition program’s challenges in fostering family farmers’ autonomy

Abstract

This article analyzes the PAA's challenges in expanding the relative autonomy of family farming. A longitudinal study on the PAA was carried out based on the institutional arrangement formed in the municipality of Angatuba, located in the southwest region of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Angatuba was selected because its institutional arrangement was executing the PAA for more than five consecutive years. The primary data that support the discussions were obtained through interviews at two different times, the first when the program was in full operation and the second when the program was no longer run in the municipality due cuts in the federal budget. Secondary data also supports the analysis. The results indicate that the institutional arrangement established in the municipality for the execution of the PAA, although very efficient, operated in a way that did not use the PAA’s institutional market to consolidate structural advances that could guarantee benefits in long term, thus, cushioning the opportunities to take the institutional market as a basis for setting up a virtuous cycle of public action. With the end of the program, farmers returned to the same conditions of production, income, and access to markets that they had previously experienced. Thus, the research points out that guaranteeing access to a protected market with fair remuneration brings relief to farmers but does not necessarily expand the relative autonomy of farmers or promote food sovereignty.

Keywords: Family farming. Food systems. Institutional markets. Public procurement. Policy. Rural Development.