FOOD ACQUISITION PROGRAM CONTRIBUTION (PAA) FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN THE PONTAL PARANAPANAMEMA, STATE OF SAO PAULO

Abstract

Many representatives of the subaltern forces - especially the coalition of peasant movements Via Campesina - have advocated food sovereignty as an alternative proposal for the control of food systems. While the hegemonic food regime is controlled by agribusiness and is characterized by large-scale production, standardization of global food diet and the gap between producers and consumers of food; food sovereignty values the local production and small-scale. In this work, there is a discussion on the contribution of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) for the construction of food sovereignty in Pontal do Paranapanema, a set of 32 municipalities in the Sao Paulo state - Brazil. The PAA is a public policy created by the Brazilian Federal Government in 2003 with two main objectives: 1 - government purchase of peasant products without the occurrence of bids and; 2 - the donation of these products to people in a position of social vulnerability. The following methodological procedures were adopted: 1 - bibliographic and document review; 2 - query to the database on the PAA of the National Company of the Food and Supply (CONAB); and 3 - carrying out semi-structured interviews with proponents peasants, agricultural technicians and your representatives of beneficiaries social assistance entities of the PAA. Contact that the PAA has contributed to the construction of food sovereignty in the Pontal do Paranapanema by factors such as the strengthening of cooperatives and farmers' associations, productive diversification, income security, the valuation of women's work and better nutrition in rural and urban areas.