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alone, PAA purchased food from 185,000 family farmers.

Similarly, since 2009, PNAE must by law purchase at least

30 per cent of its food directly from family farmers and

school menus, prepared by nutritionists, must reflect local

eating habits. By 2012, 80 per cent of public schools were

sourcing at least part of their food from family farms, and

half had reached the 30 per cent minimum target.

Environmental sustainability

Family farming provides environmental services for the conser-

vation of biodiversity, the sustainable management of natural

resources, and to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Traditional peoples and communities – about 4.5 million

people in Brazil – play a vital role. More than 800,000

indigenous peoples in Brazil live on 13 per cent of the

national territory, with 250,000 in the Amazon rainforest.

In this context, the Sociobiodiversity Products Minimum

Price Guarantee Policy pays family farmers the difference

between government fixed prices and actual sale prices

for products such as açaí, Brazil-nut, babaçu palm almond

and rubber. The programme combines income generation

with non-harmful extraction of forest products, ultimately

preserving communities’ livelihoods and promoting

sustainable use of natural resources.

The Amazon rainforest represents over half of the plan-

et’s remaining rainforests and the greatest biodiversity in

tropical forest in the world, covering 5.5 million square

kilometres distributed among nine countries (60 per cent

in Brazil). The Brazilian Amazon is inhabited by 24 million

people. Secure land tenure is key in making it “worth more

standing than cut down” for those who depend on it for

their livelihoods. The Legal Land Program, coordinated by

MDA in partnership with states and municipalities, aims

to regularize rural and urban public lands to an estimated

150,000 families in 55 million hectares in the nine states

of the Amazon region. The legal certainty obtained through

land titles allows family farmers to access public policies

that combine income generation with sustainable manage-

ment of natural resources, and enhances accountability

mechanisms for landowners to fulfil their legal duty in

terms of preservation and respecting reserve ratios.

The overexploitation and degradation of natural resources

resulting from human activity and the increasing frequency

and intensity of extreme weather events are interconnected

and – as in the case of desertification and drought – mutu-

ally reinforcing. In 2013, Brazil’s north-east region faced

its most severe drought in 50 years, with more than 1,400

municipalities affected. The drought did not provoke mass

migration to the urban centres of the south-east and south,

as in the past. A comprehensive set of public policies of

coexistence with the semi-arid region proved crucial to the

adaptation of family farmers. In particular, MDA’s Harvest

Plan for the Semi-Arid Region 2013/14 included actions

such as the Harvest Guarantee insurance scheme, which

compensates family farmers who can prove the loss of at

least 50 per cent of expected production. The Cisterns

Program ensures water consumption for a family of five

for approximately eight months through a simple and inex-

pensive social technology to capture rainwater and store it

in a 16,000 litre reservoir. The Second Water Program uses

Originally launched as a credit scheme, the More Food Program

drove 61 per cent of Brazil’s tractor sales in January to May 2009

Traditional peoples and communities play a vital role in the conservation of

biodiversity and the sustainable management of natural resources

Image: Eduardo Aigner

Image: Albino Oliveira

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