(Municipality in the state of Paraná in southern Brazil, with an estimated population of 54,031 inhabitants)
Background
Since the approval of Law Nº 11.947, on June 16, 2009, which established the purchase of 30% of family farming products for school meals, all 5,570 municipalities in Brazil had to adapt to reach the target stipulated by the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE). In Marechal Cândido Rondon, a city of approximately 60,000 inhabitants in Paraná, located in the South of Brazil, it was no different.
In addition to reaching the goal of purchasing 30% from family farming in the first years after the law was passed, the municipality made progress. After intense intersectoral and interinstitutional coordination, in 2016 the city approved Law Nº 4.904, which guarantees the inclusion of organic or agroecological foods in the municipal school feeding program, benefiting around 6,000 students.
It was a long and gradual work of training, raising awareness and implementation with various actors that formed a great network, with family farmers, public managers, associations, cooperatives, cooks, nutritionists, technicians from municipal secretariats, technical and rural assistance entities, extension, universities, among others.
Activities developed
Implementation of public purchases from family farmers who produce organic or agro ecological food in the municipality of Marechal Cândido Rondon, located on the border with Paraguay. Training and actions to raise awareness with the network of various actors that make up public school meals were key. The work helped to develop the law, approved in 2016, which instituted this public purchase.
A plan was established to help farmers for the progressive introduction of organic foods in school meals. After the 2016 law, the Municipal Decree 338, in 2018, was drawn up, which made the purchase of these foods mandatory for schools.
The municipal legislation is based on three axes for its effectiveness: the role of family agriculture as a producer of healthy foods; agroecology, as a science and sustainable production method; and education for responsible consumption, valuing local and regional products and serving as an educational and pedagogical process to be worked within the school community.
Methodology
Actions to raise awareness of actors, especially family farmers who started the transition from conventional to organic production, to promote sustainable development, food and nutrition security and the promotion of student health. The jointly work instituted guidelines and set goals for all school units in the municipal education network to provide organic or agroecological food to their students.
The work was coordinated by nutritionists from the Municipal Department of Education, with support from the Municipal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Policy. Institutions linked to agroecological family farming also took part. The monitoring of actions and their constant improvement is carried out by the City Hall, secretariats and representatives of civil society, such as organizations of farmers and the agroecological movement, the Municipal Council for Food and Nutrition Security (COMSEA) and the School Feeding Council (CAE).
To facilitate logistics, food deliveries are made by farmers at the headquarters of the Central Association of Ecological Rural Producers (Acempre), which receives, checks quality, controls and delivers. The City Hall distributes the food in schools, both in the city and in the districts. The contribution of the school feeding program in increasing the income of family farmers is expressive and of great importance for their strengthening. In addition, the practice of better prices for certified organic products is one of the reasons that lead family farmers to seek certification.
The entire process, from production to deliveries, is planned in advance and jointly, minimizing unnecessary losses and efforts. Thus, there is a programmed division of functions and tasks, facilitating, mainly, the generation of production plans according to the demands of purchases, allowing the best performance of the work by the families in the field. In this way, the family can develop a productive plan with greater efficiency.
Participating institutions
City Hall of Marechal Cândido Rondon, Municipal Secretary of Education, Municipal Secretary of Agriculture, National Fund for Educational Development, Central Association of Ecological Rural Producers (Acempre), Center for Support and Promotion of Agroecology (CAPA), Municipal Council for Food and nutritional (Comsea), Biolabore, State University of Western Paraná.
Qualitative and quantitative data
25 participating institutions, among schools and Municipal Child Education Centers. The program also serves students from the Association of Parents and Friends of the Exceptional (APAE). The municipality delivers around 9,236 meals a day to 5,620 students. There are about 50 local families participating in the school feeding project, 41 are producers of certified organic food .
More than 100 types of products are delivered to school meals, including organic, transitional and conventional. They are divided into groups: fruits (20 items), frozen fruits (8 items), vegetables and seeds (13 items), vegetables and tubers (19 items), spices (8 items), milk and dairy products (2 items), baked goods and pasta (7 items), animal origin (1 item), juices (1 item), complements (5 items) and cereals (10 items). Not all products are fully treated as organic, but most are. In 2021, 76% of food purchased with National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE) funds was organic.
Description of beneficiaries
- 5,620 students benefited from school feeding supplied mostly with products from family farming and organic.
- 9236 meals per day (4 meals for CMEIS and 1 meal per shift in schools).
- 25 municipal schools and 1 philanthropic school in total.
- 108 families were involved, 70 from local Family Agriculture and 38 from farmers from other municipalities in the region.
Results achieved
- Generation of an institutional market and income for 108 farming families;
- Promotion of sustainable rural development;
- Improved health of more than 5,000 students, the educational community, their families and farmers;
- Strengthening and generating healthy habits in new generations;
- Approaching students with food production.
Challenges and advances
Challenges:
- Control and more efficient inspection
- Stronger relation with parents to raise awareness about the policy and its benefits
- Development of the Food Security Observatory in the city
- Better use of the diversity and seasonality of species and crops
- Nutritionists, cooks and program managers need to better know the diversity of existing foods, possible to be produced in each place, and their respective production times, advancing more and more in their use.
- Public initiatives to support and encourage progress in structuring family farmers is necessary to qualify and achieve the provision of more products.
- Many families have little or no productive structure for starting production and installation of irrigation systems and greenhouses. The public power must support it.
- Many requirements to adapt to the necessary legal parameters for family farmers.
Advances:
- Promotes local and regional sustainable development
- Improves Food and Nutrition Security of the community
- Guarantee of the Human Right to Adequate Food
- Legislation that prioritizes the production of family farmers, with a minimum percentage of purchases and emphasis on the purchase of certified organic or agroecological foods
- It intensifies the processes of transition, income generation, sovereignty and food security.
- It generates empowerment and socio-environmental responsibility, pillars for the construction of a fair, resilient and solidary society.
- It promotes social strengthening, participation and collective integration in organizational processes.
