'Market alternatives for smallholder farmers in food security initiatives: lessons from the brazilian food acquisition programme

Published on March 9, 2022

This study looks at the outcomes of the Brazil’s Food Acquisition Programme (Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos, PAA) for farmers’ market access. The goal of the authors is to identify and discuss key elements that could be explored in further international debate, sharing lessons learned from programmes that combine supporting food production (through trading opportunities targeted at or open to smallholder farmers) with giving vulnerable populations access to food. This is the first study in a series to be conducted by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) to compare experiences of this kind.

The programme is a strategic part of Brazil’s food security policy framework formally known as Fome Zero (“Zero Hunger”), a multidimensional approach with four axes of intervention. PAA is a complex programme with various components that have different procedures and purposes, and that are not necessarily implemented in the same locations. Given our interest in initiatives that combine food access and food production through the direct purchase of agricultural goods, the present study concentrates on the components that specifically target those areas, thereby allowing a more comprehensive analysis. The components considered, therefore, are those that comprise the Purchase for Simultaneous Donation (Compra para Doação Simultânea): Local Direct Purchase from Family Agriculture (CDLAF) and Purchase from Family Agriculture for Simultaneous Donation (CPR-Donation).