Institutional purchase of family farm products: evaluating the execution of the Food Acquisition Program by federal universities

Abstract

This study aims to assess the level of compliance of Brazilian federal universities with the requirement for the acquisition of products from family farming under Decree No. 7775/2012, delimiting scopes and dilemmas to provide feedback to the Food Acquisition Program in the Institutional Purchase modality (PAA-CI). This is a descriptive qualitative study, with an analysis of secondary data (calls and results) between 2012 and 2019. Data analysis indicated that the implementation of the PAA-CI in the supply of food to university restaurants via public calls is limited and heterogeneous, benefiting a small number of family farmers. There are gaps in terms of Program coverage and failures in the preparation of public notices, which discourages the participation of family farmers and family farming organizations, especially the less structured ones. Due to the recent nature of the legislation, public policies of technical assistance and rural extension for family farming and actions to train public managers must be promoted to lead bureaucrats to interactions with local organizations, creating and improving flows of information and knowledge and providing feedback public policies for local development integrated to the core activities of universities, teaching, research, and extension.

Keywords:
public purchases; family farming; institutional markets; institutional purchasing