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Abstract
Poverty, food security, and sustainability are intimately intertwined, driving conflict and synergy between environmental and societal concerns. Brazil’s flagship food security policies were implemented over a decade ago to address these issues simultaneously. Global institutions have pledged over 2 million US$ to develop similar programs in sub-Saharan Africa, yet empirical assessments of many aspects of these policies are still lacking. We focus on a case study in the state of Minas Gerais and assess the agricultural and environmental impacts of the Purchase with Simultaneous Donation (PSD) program. The PSD provides stable markets as incentives to diversify production, but we find no effect of participation on changes in local agricultural practices, production or income. While some farms are expanding, regional agricultural production appears to be declining due to local economic development and related shortages in farm labor. The PSD’s limited impact arises because most farmers only participate irregularly, typically during the dry season when the program offers higher prices than the local market price. Furthermore, participation is constrained by the specific nature of PSD contracts and centralized governance of the program. We complement these findings with data from the Brazilian Ministry of Social Development and the 2006 agricultural census, which show substantial variation in the availability of PSD initiatives, and the funding allocated to them at local, regional and national levels. We suggest that adaptive management strategies that can respond to local market conditions could lead to more equitable and efficient food security and agricultural policies in Brazil and elsewhere.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 779-793 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Food Security |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 16 Jun 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2015 |
Keywords
- Agricultural intensification Land abandonment Rural development Small-scale farming
- land abandonment
- rural development
- small-scale farmimg
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Dive into the research topics of 'Linking Brazil’s food security policies to agricultural change'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
- 2 Participation in conference
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13th International Congress of Ecology: Intecol: Into the Next 100 years
Michael Jahi Chappell (Speaker)
22 Aug 2013Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference
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Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers Annual International Conference 2013
Michael Jahi Chappell (Speaker)
28 Aug 2013Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference