SISTEMAS AGROALIMENTARES LOCAIS: PASSADO, PRESENTE E FUTURO DA EXPERIÊNCIA DE REGIONALIZAÇÃO DA MERENDA ESCOLAR NO MUNICÍPIO DE SOURE/PA

Abstract

In the municipalities of Ilha do Marajó, rich in biodiversity, but which have the lowest human development indexes (HDI) in the country, access to healthy and good quality food for children and young people in the region is often only possible in the school lunch. The regionalization of this, from the identification of traditional foods, within a concept of "local agro-food systems" can be a new possibility of development for these municipalities, starting from local family farming, (re)building relational bridges given the proximity between products, producers, and consumers. Understanding the dynamics of these systems in their complex networks and chains that go from production to consumption, as well as their pragmatic applications, are essential to advancing the debate around rural development. Thus, this article seeks, in the light of this concept, to present and discuss the experience of the School Meals Regionalization Program in the municipality of Soure/PA, as a form of identity and local rural development. The methodological procedure used was the case study, contextualizing this initiative and describing it in depth from the collection and analysis of data through interviews, observation, use of secondary data and document analysis. The results point to a successful experience with an important positive impact, where it was possible for students to have healthy and safe food, in parallel with the development of agrifood enterprises and advances in the agenda of sustainability of family farming and the local economic and social ecosystem.