Public policies in Brazil: the case of the Food Acquisition Program in Tocantins between 2016 and 2021

Abstract

The Food Acquisition Program created by Federal Law nº 10.696 of July 2, 2003 consists of purchasing food from peasant agriculture by the government and later distributing it to social assistance entities, which redistribute it to people in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability. The study aimed to evaluate the scope and contributions of the Food Acquisition Program in the state of Tocantins, between 2016 and 2021, highlighting information regarding the number of municipalities that accessed the policy; financial resources generated, total food produced/marketed and identification of the number of entities that receive food via the program. For this purpose, four main methodological procedures were adopted: 1) bibliographical and documentary research; 2) data collection; 3) elaboration of cartographic representation and; 4) secondary data analysis. The results show that the public policy incurs food security, provides access to income, encourages associativism and/or cooperativism, in addition to inserting local and/or regional food cultures in the daily diet of those involved, however, covering only 24,46% of tocantinese municipalities in six years of the program. Finally, it is necessary to guarantee financial resources from the Union for the strengthening/maintenance of the PAA in Tocantins.