Making Rural and Urban Connections by Integrating Nutrition and Agriculture: A Case Study of Food and Nutrition Security Instruments in Brazil

Abstract

The complex relations connecting food, health, and the environment are at the center stage of contemporary food policy. In the increasingly urbanized world, the metabolic relations linking the cities and the countryside through food, gained visibility as a matter of concern. It turns possible to argue that healthy eating based on sustainable food systems is an important component for linking cities, rural areas, and sustainability. This task is permeated by multiple determinants that requires making use of integrative public policy instruments. The paper discusses two such instruments drawing from the historical construction of a FSN policy agenda in Brazil: The National School Meal Program (NSMP) and the Brazilian Food Guide (BFG). It analyzes how these healthy food and nutrition instruments connect agriculture and nutrition and how they define the relationships with the notion of ‘sustainability’. A case study of the BFG and the NSMP was conducted with a qualitative approach, applying the thematic analysis of official documents and normative frameworks. The paper shows that BFG integrative approach of nutrition and agriculture is a result of a broader view articulating environment, food systems, nutrition, and health. Nutrition and agriculture are integrated in the NSMP through connecting food production and food consumption, besides adding two transversal elements: territory as reference for local development actions; building knowledge based on food and nutrition education strategies. Nonetheless, the two public programs are precursors of a tendency of reconnecting urban and rural areas while arguing for sustainable food systems.