Agricultura familiar e alimentação escolar: desafios para o acesso aos mercados institucionais em três municípios mineiros

The purchase of family farming for school feeding brings different potentialities for sustainable local development, the valorization of a healthy diet that respects local food culture and the reconnection between producers and consumers. On the other hand, it presents several challenges regarding the complexity of relationships between family farming, school feeding and public power. This article aims to analyze the main challenges for the sale of family agriculture to the PNAE, based on the experience of three municipalities of Minas Gerais: Divinópolis, Guapé and Lavras. For this purpose, a qualitative study was used, where the actors involved in the operationalization of policy in the municipalities were interviewed: family farmers and their organizations, rural extension technicians, representatives of the secretariats of education and municipal public agencies, as well as the person in charge of school purchases. Among the main results, difficulties involve since the knowledge and mobilization to the execution of the policy, the elaboration of public calls and issues related to food production and delivery, and organization of family farming. However, the importance of the program as a way of stimulating an environment of experimentation of new forms of economic insertion for the family farming is emphasized.