Estudo teórico do Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar com base no olhar de Vandana Shiva

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the National School Feeding Program based on Vandana Shiva's critical perspective. As part of a postgraduate course in Education, Vandana Shiva can contribute to the understanding of the “Green Revolution” and, at the same time, to the analysis of the policies of the National School Feeding Program. It is not just about highlighting the socio-environmental implications of food industrialization and monoculture, based on agribusiness, sustainability and food systems. The main point highlights national policies for integrating family farming into school meals, as a strategy to promote food security, sovereignty and healthy eating habits. In this case, in school meals for elementary and high school students. The research is structured in three sections. The first section addresses Vandana Shiva's criticism of the monoculture paradigm and the replacement of fresh foods with ultra-processed foods, relating these transformations to the increase in chronic non-communicable diseases. Shiva’s critical view of the replacement of family farming and small properties by the agribusiness model argues that this revolution has brought more hunger, debt, impoverishment, and environmental imbalance. Consequently, she advocates the valorization of traditional knowledge and agricultural diversity. The second section addresses the operationalization of the national school lunch program, highlighting its decentralization, legislation, and adaptation during the covid-19 pandemic. The program, as a public policy for food distribution, offers food from family farming, acts as a way of forming eating habits, and reaches all school-age children in basic education. During the covid-19 pandemic, the program also assisted their families. By assessing the legislation on the program, it was possible to verify how its continuity during the pandemic was maintained. The third section discusses agrifood, agroecological, and educational policies, contextualized with perspectives and connections with Vandana Shiva, her theories, and experience as an environmental activist.