Spatial inequality in the purchase of food from family agriculture for school feeding in Brazil

ABSTRACT

The study aims to analyze the fulfillment of the use of at least 30% of the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) resources for the acquisition of food from family agriculture in Brazil, from 2013 to 2016. This is a longitudinal ecological research. Data was collected through public data available at the National Education Development Fund (FNDE). Thematic and spatial correlation maps were constructed for analysis of the spatial distribution of the purchase and trend analysis. It was verified that the percentage of municipalities that comply with the legal purchase requirement increased from 34.3% in 2013 to 43.7% in 2016, with the largest number of municipalities in the Southern region of the country with 72.5%, while only 26.1% in the Midwest, 27.4% in the North and 31.6% in the Northeast. The South region stands out when compared to the North, Northeast and Midwest (p =<0.001). The trend analysis of the union’s annual budget resources showed an average growth of 30.8% (CI = 13.2-51.1), but with a decline between 2015 and 2016. It is concluded that there has been a progressive increase in the direct purchase of food from family farms for school feeding in Brazil from 2013 to 2016, although in unequal manner in different regions of the country.

KEYWORDS
School feeding; Food supply; Agriculture; Food security; Spatial analysis