Alagoas Without Hunger: Government plans to distribute more than a thousand tons of seeds for planting in 2024

Fighting hunger is one of the State Government’s priorities. Among the actions adopted by governor Paulo Dantas is the creation of the Alagoas Sem Fome program, sanctioned at the end of 2023. Family farming plays an important role in strategies to reduce food insecurity among families in Alagoas as it is the economic base of many municipalities and provide opportunities for healthy food production to reach the tables of those who need it most.

For the coordinator of the Alagoas Sem Fome program, secretary Paula Dantas, “family farming is important especially with regard to quality, as it is necessary to understand that food insecurity is not just eating little, but sometimes eating poor quality food. Family farming can help us by providing quality, organic, regionalized food grown by the local population and directed to daycare centers, schools and companies.”

In Alagoas, the State Secretariat for Agriculture and Livestock (Seagri) develops programs and actions that strengthen family farmers to develop dairy activities, produce corn, beans, rice, fruits and vegetables, enabling planting throughout the year.

The executive secretary of Family Agriculture, Renata Andrade, explains that family farming in Alagoas has a strong subsistence appeal, but that the state has worked in partnership with federal government agencies, cooperatives and productive groups to change this scenario. The objective is that, in addition to food security, improving farmers’ productivity combined with public market access policies generates financial independence for more families.

“The PAA public call in the institutional purchase modality [Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos], is one of these instruments that opens up marketing opportunities for these farmers, generating income in the field. But we already buy milk weekly from family producers under the Leite do Coração program, which pays a price per liter of milk that is above the market average. This milk is distributed in public schools, reaching families who need it most in the cities”, highlights Renata Andrade.

In 2023, Emater Alagoas carried out the PAA Simultaneous Donation, with resources from the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger (MDS), which donated healthy food to 98 thousand families in Alagoas, helping to combat hunger in Alagoas . This year, the program is expected to begin its annual implementation in May, with an estimate of serving 250 receiving units throughout the state, including the Social Assistance Reference Center (CRAS) and solidarity kitchens, benefiting people from Alagoas who live in situations of social vulnerability.

PRODUCTIVE INCLUSION

In the right planting window, Seagri began deliveries of the Planta Alagoas program. The estimate is that 1,100 tons of corn, beans, sorghum and rice seeds will be distributed in 2024; In the second semester, the pilot project for the distribution of fruit seedlings will be carried out. In total, the program will benefit 70 thousand family farmers, including indigenous people, quilombolas, agrarian reform settlers, and campers, generating income and strengthening the state’s agricultural production.

From the forest zone to the backlands of Alagoas, to help family farmers plant crops and promote productivity, Seagri has already delivered 123 irrigation kits, benefiting 350 farming families who will continue producing quality food in the countryside.

Seagri also develops actions that serve the family farming production cycle, including technical assistance and access to markets. Through Rural Development, a technical cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance (MDS), the State Government and Emater Alagoas, more than 7,300 rural families will implement productive projects, strengthening family agricultural production and generating income .