Food security governance promoted by national government at the local level: a case study in Brazil

Poliana Araújo Palmeira (), Ruben Araujo de Mattos and Rosana Salles-Costa
Additional contact information
Poliana Araújo Palmeira: Federal University of Campina Grande
Ruben Araujo de Mattos: State University of Rio de Janeiro
Rosana Salles-Costa: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, No 10, 606 pages

Abstract: Abstract Overcoming food insecurity essentially depends on the political environment and demands the implementation of public policies to ensuring Food and Nutrition Security (FNS). The literature on FNS governance is scarce, prescriptive and not based on empirical studies, especially at subnational levels. The objective of our study was to identify and analyze Governmental Initiatives related to FNS (GIs-FNS) developed in a small, rural Brazilian municipality. We presented an analytical approach to policies in the perspective of the implementation process. We identified GIs-FNS and interviewed 40 managers responsible for these GIs-FNS in 2011 and then again in 2014. The results revealed a promising scenario to deal with food insecurity formed by 33 GIs-FNS classified in six areas of activity: food and water supply (5 GIs-FNS); social protection (11 GIs-FSN); education (3 GIs-FNS); rural development (4 GIs-FNS); Health (9 GIs-FNS); and food safety (1 GIs-FNS). Most GIs were implemented between 2003 and 2014 by the national government at a local level The decentralization design promoted an increase in local government capacity, mainly by (1) decentralizing funding to different levels of the community, (2) generating demands for legal instruments for parliamentarians, (3) stimulating popular insertion in policy councils, and (4) demanding actions to monitor and evaluate public programs. We conclude that the national government implemented coordinated interventions that encouraged local FNS governance and increased local political-administrative capacity, acting in a vulnerable region with the potential to reduce regional and social inequalities.

Keywords: Food and nutrition security; Public policy; Nutrition policies; Food policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-019-01000-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:12:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s12571-019-01000-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ulture/journal/12571

DOI: 10.1007/s12571-019-01000-2

Access Statistics for this article

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food is currently edited by R.N. Strange

More articles in Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food from Springer, The International Society for Plant Pathology
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().