Participation of family farming in the National School Feeding Program during the COVID-19 pandemic in municipalities of the state of Goiás, Brazil

Abstract

The present study is dedicated to analyze the participation of family farming in the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) in municipalities of the Red River Microregion, in the state of Goiás, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study took place in seven municipalities: Araguapaz-GO, Aruanã-GO, Britânia-GO, Faina-GO, Goiás-GO, Matrinchã-GO and Santa Fé de Goiás-GO. It was found that there was a drop in the acquisition of foodstuffs from agriculture in all the municipalities analyzed, especially in the municipality of Goiás-GO, which did not acquire any value from family farming, even though it is the municipality that has the largest volume of funds passed on and where a good part of the family farming in the region is located. In view of the study presented, it was also found that there was an increase in the resources passed on by the FNDE in 2020. The participation, before and during the pandemic, was mostly from individual family farmers, with the exception of the municipality of Goiás-GO that, in 2019, hired exclusively from formal groups. From the in-depth study of the pandemic period, it was found that family farming was vulnerable to the lack of efficient management of the PNAE, which may indicate lack of solid and well articulated institutional procurement planning with family farming.