{"id":27828,"date":"2025-07-23T10:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T13:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/study-reveals-factors-that-facilitate-and-hinder-public-procurement-from-family-farming-for-school-feeding\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T13:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T16:50:13","slug":"study-reveals-factors-that-facilitate-and-hinder-public-procurement-from-family-farming-for-school-feeding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/study-reveals-factors-that-facilitate-and-hinder-public-procurement-from-family-farming-for-school-feeding\/","title":{"rendered":"Study reveals factors that facilitate and hinder public procurement from family farming for school feeding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The research was conducted by the Collaborating Centre for School Feeding and Nutrition at the Fluminense Federal University, with support from FAO, and offers concrete recommendations<\/em>; the study is published at the RAES platform. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bras\u00edlia, Brazil, July 22, 2025<\/strong> \u2013 The connection between school feeding programmes and public procurement from family farming has become a key strategy for strengthening more sustainable agrifood systems. By linking farms to schools, public procurement supports healthier diets for students while also generating income for local family farmers, driving territorial development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To identify the enablers and barriers of this process, the Collaborating Centre for School Feeding and Nutrition at Fluminense Federal University (CECANE-UFF), at the request of the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE), with technical support from the school feeding team of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), launched the study “Facilitating and hindering factors in the procurement process from family farming for school feeding in Brazil.”<\/a> <\/em>The study is only available in Portuguese.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Brazil, legislation mandates that at least 30% of the resources transferred by the FNDE to the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE) be used to purchase food from family farming. The study aims to support municipalities in meeting and expanding this percentage, gathering recommendations under four strategic pillars: communication, capacity building, policy management, and experience sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More efficient communication<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first set of recommendations stresses the need to enhance and improve communication among the various stakeholders. Suggestions include producing and disseminating accessible informational materials, developing digital platforms, organising training courses for farmers and their associations and cooperatives, as well as increasing transparency in public calls for procurement. The study also proposes strengthening dialogue with regulatory bodies to foster supportive oversight, creating national and regional mechanisms, and developing technical notes to provide legal backing for public procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Capacity development<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The second pillar focuses on strengthening the capacities of all stakeholders involved in school feeding programmes, including farmers, nutritionists, technicians, managers, associations, and cooperatives. It suggests practical and online training on public procurement processes, menu development, sales project organisation, and incorporating content related to school feeding programmes, food and nutrition education (FNE), and public procurement into the curricula of courses like Pedagogy, Nutrition, and Agronomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More integrated management<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The third set of recommendations addresses the need to improve the management of public policies, with proposals such as increasing per capita funding, strengthening municipal technical teams, improving food logistics and storage, and mapping local production. It also suggests institutional coordination among federal and municipal entities and representatives of family farming (e.g. unions, cooperatives, associations, and federations) to foster partnerships and align demands. Additionally, it recommends allocating budgetary resources to expand training mechanisms and technical assistance that support public procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exchange of experiences, best practices and innovation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fourth pillar encourages municipalities to share experiences through regional events and systematisation of best practices in public procurement from family farming. The study highlights the importance of knowledge exchange among school feeding stakeholders, including extension services, nutritionists, school cooks, farmers, cooperatives, associations, public managers, school principals, and others involved in the procurement process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Najla Veloso, Executive Secretary of the Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES) and school feeding specialist at FAO, notes that although the study focuses on the Brazilian context, the findings are also valuable for other countries participating in the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation since 2009. These countries are in the process of consolidating their own school feeding programmes, including the integration of local food production with school meals. \u201cThis study reinforces our mission to generate knowledge and support the development of evidence-based public policies. There\u2019s no doubt that public procurement from family farming boosts local development and improves students\u2019 nutrition,\u201d said Najla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patr\u00edcia Camacho Dias, coordinator of CECANE-UFF, stated that the publication reinforces CECANE\u2019s institutional commitment to knowledge production, grounded in practical experiences within their territories. This approach makes it possible to identify and analyse the main challenges and opportunities in operationalising family farming procurement for school feeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe study provides data and reflections that can guide public managers, nutritionists, family farmers, as well as students, professors, and other stakeholders, on strategies to overcome barriers and strengthen the role of family farming, thus promoting food and nutrition security in schools,\u201d said Patr\u00edcia. She also emphasised that the publication reinforces the role of CECANEs as part of the work of public universities and strategic partners of FNDE in advancing public policies, especially PNAE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to the study: https:\/\/redraes.org\/pt-br\/elementos-facilitadores-e-dificultadores-no-processo-de-compra-da-agricultura-familiar-para-a-alimentacao-escolar-no-brasil-disponible-en-portugues\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The research was conducted by the Collaborating Centre for School Feeding and Nutrition at the Fluminense Federal University, with support from FAO, and offers concrete recommendations; the study is published at the RAES platform. Bras\u00edlia, Brazil, July 22, 2025 \u2013 The connection between school feeding programmes and public procurement from family farming has become a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,514,495],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-ff-public-procurement","category-news-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27828"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27860,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27828\/revisions\/27860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redraes.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}