O impacto da pandemia de Covid-19 nas compras da agricultura familiar para o Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE)

Abstract

The National School Feeding Program (PNAE), created in 1955, has as its main objective to guarantee the food and nutritional security of students in the public school system, contributing to the improvement of school performance. Law No. 11,947/2009 brought a significant advance by establishing that at least 30% of the resources transferred by the National Fund for the Development of Education (FNDE) must be allocated to the purchase of food from family farming. This work aims to analyze the purchases for the PNAE in the 399 municipalities of Paraná, evaluating the dynamics and performance in the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods, where, due to the suspension of in-person classes and the temporary closure of schools, there was a sharp drop in the execution of this public policy. To this end, data was collected through the Management and Accountability System (SIGPC) during the analyzed period and shows the temporal scope of the three periods of the pandemic, exposing the dynamics of purchases in percentage, municipalities that purchased organic or agroecological products, municipalities that held public calls for bids, and municipalities that had their own resources allocated to the program. After this analysis, a map was created showing the post-pandemic year where we can observe regional inequalities among municipalities that still encountered difficulties in making purchases for the program. The combined analysis of all the data shows that the dynamics of purchases for the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) underwent important structural changes influenced by the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic. The results show a significant drop in the volume and percentage of municipalities that complied with the law in 2020, a direct result of the suspension of in-person classes, logistical difficulties, and the temporary disarticulation between schools and rural organizations. Although the recovery process began in 2022, levels remained below pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating the prolonged effects of the health crisis. Despite the results, the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) is still consolidating its role in strengthening family farming in the state, hence the importance of deeply understanding this policy and suggesting improvements to the program