Public Food Purchase Policies and Family Farmers’ Organizations in Vale do Ribeira/SP

Abstract

Public policies for the purchase of food from family farms were constituted by institutions that induce multidimensional objectives, among which is that of activating social organization processes. In order to contribute to the understanding of these processes, the article centrally analyzes the organizational responses of family farmers induced by the Food Acquisition Program and the National School Feeding Program in the context of five organizations in Vale Ribeira/SP. For that, the main managers of the organizations and 38 producers were interviewed. It was found that public programs encouraged the creation of cooperatives and the transformation of the social base of pre-existing organizations. The performance of external actors was decisive so that such cooperative structures could increasingly serve the programs. Therefore, it was the formal existence of organizations that allowed effects such as the implementation of sustainable production systems, the improvement in the economic conditions of farmers and the intensification of social participation, leading to the constitution of an instrument of regional representation of farmers through a second degree cooperative.