As cooperativas de agricultura familiar e o mercado de compras governamentais em Minas Gerais

Abstract

The recent policies of governmental purchases that emerged in the years 2000, such as the National Program of Food in Schools (PNAE) and the Food Acquisition Program (PAA), have brought significant opportunities for family agriculture cooperatives in Brazil to access markets. In spite of the possibilities that the PNAE and the PAA offer to family agriculture and its organizations, these programs also present a series of challenges, which involve different agents in the food acquisition process. This article intends to delineate the profile of family agriculture cooperatives in Minas Gerais and analyze their main difficulties to access the institutional market. We analyzed 19 diagnostics carried out in 2011 in family agriculture cooperatives from different regions of Minas Gerais State. In spite of the access to the local markets in both regional and municipal scopes, it was identified that there are issues related to technical assistance, sanitary adaptation, management and logistics that hinder the access of these cooperatives to such policies in the big centers of Minas Gerais.