Lula sanctions Food Acquisition Program with MTST measure

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned this Thursday (20), at the Planalto Palace, Bill 2,920/2023, which institutes the Food Acquisition Program (PAA). One of the planned points is the Solidarity Kitchen Program, a proposal formulated by the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST).

The proposal was approved on July 7 by the Chamber of Deputies. Because it was voted symbolically, it is not possible to know which deputies voted for the approval and rejection of the proposal. Subsequently, on July 12, the measure was approved in the Senate. The PAA extinguishes the Programa Alimenta Brasil, the version implemented in the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The project foresees that at least 30% of the resources reserved by the government for the purchase of food from federal public administration bodies should be spent on products from family farmers.

Families registered in the Single Registry for Social Programs (CadÚnico) will have priority in the program. After this first group, the indigenous peoples will come; traditional peoples and communities; land reform settlers; fishermen; black; women; rural youth; elderly; disabled people; and families of people with disabilities as dependents.

MTST Solidarity Kitchen

Among the points of the PAA, the government sanctioned the creation of the Solidarity Kitchen Program, with the objective of providing food to the population, especially to people in vulnerable situations, such as homeless people. The project was presented by federal deputy Guilherme Boulos (PSOL-SP) and has the same format as the MTST initiative. The Solidarity Kitchen provides for exemption from bidding when hiring private entities to serve the program.

To supply school lunches or form regulatory stocks, the Executive Branch of all spheres of government (federal, state, district and municipal) may purchase directly, without the need for a bidding process, food produced by beneficiary suppliers.

Exemption from bidding will be applied as long as the following requirements are met: food prices must be compatible with those practiced in the local or regional market; the maximum annual value for acquisitions in each modality must be respected by family unit, cooperative or other formal organizations of family agriculture; the food purchased must be produced by the beneficiaries and must comply with the quality control requirements established by law; and all other norms established in the specific legislation for each type of purchase must be observed.

In the case of agroecological or organic products, in cases where it is not possible to establish a reference price in the local or regional market, the purchased food may have an increase of up to 30% in relation to conventional food.

Amending the 2021 Bidding Law, the proposal also provides for the waiver of bidding for “the contracting of non-profit private entities for the implementation of cisterns or other social technologies for access to water for human consumption and food production, to benefit low-income rural families affected by drought or regular lack of water”.