The changes focus on two key areas: prioritizing women in public procurement calls and ensuring that at least 50% of direct purchases from family farms are registered under a woman’s name.
The Brazil’s National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE) published in February 2025 the Resolution CD/FNDE No. 3, which regulates Law No. 14.660/2023 and amends Articles 29 and 35 of Resolution CD/FNDE No. 6/2020. This new regulation introduces significant changes to how food from family farming is acquired for the school feeding programme in Brazil.
The resolution enhances women’s leadership in rural areas and reinforces the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE)’s commitment to valuing family-based agricultural production. The changes focus on two key areas: prioritizing women in public procurement calls and ensuring that at least 50% of direct purchases from family farms are registered under a woman’s name.
Women’s groups gain priority in public procurement
One of the most important innovations of the new resolution is the inclusion of both formal and informal women’s groups as priority beneficiaries in purchases made with PNAE resources — on equal footing with agrarian reform settlements, Indigenous communities, and quilombola communities.
Formal groups include cooperatives or associations that are legally established. To be prioritized, these groups must be composed of at least 50% plus one of female farmers with a valid CAF or DAP (official family farmer identification).
Informal groups — collectives without legal status — must be composed entirely of women holding a valid individual CAF or DAP. This means women organized in various productive formats will receive priority treatment when selected as suppliers for school feeding programs, strengthening their position in institutional markets.
Direct purchases must allocate 50% of the value in the woman’s name
Another significant change concerns direct acquisitions from family farms. The new rule establishes that in each Family Farming Production Unit (UFPA), at least 50% of the total value sold must be registered in the woman’s name, with the invoice issued under her individual taxpayer registry (CPF).
This requirement applies only to purchases made directly from the producing family, not to cooperatives, associations, or informal groups. Compliance will be verified through the invoice and the registration of the woman as a “labor force” in the individual CAF record.
If there is more than one woman in the UFPA, the maximum amount allowed — BRL 40,000 per calendar year, per implementing entity — can be split among them. If a woman chooses not to participate in the procurement call, she must submit a formal declaration to be attached to the procurement documentation.
To simplify the procedures, there is no need to separate products sold by men or women in the sales project or contract. As the production is carried out under a family regime, it is sufficient to record that at least 50% of the total value will be allocated to the woman.
Law No. 14.660/2023 has been in effect since August 24, 2023, and Resolution CD/FNDE No. 3/2025 came into force on February 11, 2025. From these dates forward, all PNAE public procurement calls must align with the new guidelines.
Content published by the FNDE.
