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Banana, mango, papaya, pequi, sugarcane, cassava, murici, tucunaré, matrinxã, pintado, peanuts, honey, pirão, beiju. Have you ever thought about having your sons and daughters enrolled in a school that offers students freshly harvested products from the fields and the forest, as well as fresh fish? 

Food like this, which comes from the hands and work of small producers — many of them parents and relatives of the students — are arriving at some schools in Mato Grosso.    

One example is the Hadori State Indigenous School, in the São Domingos Indigenous Land, of the Iny people, known as Karajá, in the municipality of Luciara (MT), which is developing a pilot project and this year will provide its approximately 90 students with food produced in the community itself. 

This change is happening with the articulation of the Commission of Traditional Foods of the Peoples of Mato Grosso (Catrapovos – MT). The commission brings together partners and seeks to adapt and expand access to the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), enabling indigenous farmers, quilombolas, extractivists, retireros, Pantaneiros, Morroquians and riverside dwellers to be able to supply their products to schools in their communities.

On the Hadori School menu, the indigenous language already indicates the change that will appear on the plate. Students will be able to eat Irá mare (manioc and beiju), Krose (cucuz), Ijore Benôra (fish soup), Uxé (fish farofa) and Iwerú (canjica).

The school principal, Célio Kawina Ijavari, celebrated. “Our people will sell fish, flour, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, cassava. It will improve the school lunch!”

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The specific public call for the acquisition of food from traditional peoples and communities took place at the beginning of this year, and six producers from the community were registered.

Célio Kawina Ijavari says that last year, the school held an activity on healthy eating and served traditional dishes using local produce. The school community approved. “The community thought about selling their produce for the students to eat, valuing the diet of our people and encouraging farming. That’s our idea,” he said. 

According to the director, people in the community are consuming too many processed foods. The program can help restore traditional and healthier eating habits. It can also encourage the traditional agricultural system of the Iny people, including by awakening the interest of younger people.  

Catrapovos

The actions that have been taking place from Catrapovos-MT have their origins in the Commission for Traditional Foods of the Peoples of Amazonas (Catrapoa), created by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and which seeks to adapt public policies for the acquisition of food to the local reality of traditional peoples and communities. The initiative ended up becoming a permanent national debate table on the topic and giving rise to commissions in the states. 

“The policy drives an entire positive chain. And Catrapovos seeks to reduce bureaucracy and expand access and benefits, strengthening agricultural systems, healthy eating and the traditions behind each food. It also promotes the generation of local income, being an alternative to other systems that have major impacts on territories and traditional ways of life, such as timber, soy and mining,” explained agronomist Marcelo Martins, an ISA analyst and employee of Catrapovos - MT.

In Mato Grosso, the group was formalized in June 2022 and meets monthly. Marcelo Martins said that one of the first steps was the preparation of the bylaws and the charter of principles.  

Anthropologist Luísa Tui Rodrigues Sampaio, an analyst at ISA, is also a member of Catrapovos-MT. “With our work, we are bringing together the ends, that is, the producers, the schools and the partner entities, such as the State Department of Education, Seduc,” she said. 

Another work that has been developed with the communities from Catrapovos is the survey of production: what food can be supplied and in what quantity. 

The information is passed on to Seduc, which prepares the menu including traditional products. Funai is also producing a diagnosis of production in some indigenous communities. 

“We seek solutions through debates about food. And this dialogue is related to food security and sovereignty and other urgent issues, such as climate change, fires, deforestation and the use of pesticides. Communities have been noticing impacts such as the loss of seeds and difficulties in some crops for some time now.”

Project manager at ICV, Eriberto Muller reported that, in two years of operation, Catrapovos - MT achieved important advances by bringing together institutions around the issue of traditional food in schools. 

One of the positive impacts he mentions is on health. “Indigenous women report an increase in diseases such as diabetes and high cholesterol that were brought by conventional food in their villages and schools. This testimony is worrying,” he said.

He also pointed out that mobilizing the community to participate in the PNAE promotes recognition of the productive potential of traditional peoples, opening up possibilities for new paths, such as supplying products to other institutional markets, through the Food Acquisition Program (PAA).

Yaiku Suyá, representative of the Xingu Indigenous Land Association (Atix) in Catrapovos - MT, stressed that it is very important for traditional food to be available in schools. “Traditional food is very rich and healthy. We don’t know how food from outside, from the city, was prepared and it can be harmful. We know that it contains a lot of pesticides,” he reflected. He considered that the list of foods that can be sold to schools should be expanded, with the inclusion of local items.

Pilot project

The Hadori State Indigenous School was chosen to develop the pilot project because it met the conditions to participate in the PNAE — the school was mobilized and there were farmers interested in providing their products. But, even so, they were unable to access the program.

A working group involving the Executive Secretariat of Catrapovos and the MPF-MT, through prosecutor Ricardo Pael Ardenghi, was responsible for mobilizing the implementation of the pilot project and will closely monitor the actions to identify bottlenecks and potential gaps. The experience may be expanded to other communities and schools.

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“With this project, we will monitor the policy while its implementation is taking place, checking bottlenecks and strengths, in order to feed ideas that will make the PNAE run better and reach other territories”, assessed Marcelo Martins. 

One of the activities was the promotion, in 2024, of a workshop so that producers and the school itself could understand how to access the PNAE and PAA. The workshop was held by Cecane and Empaer, with monitoring by ISA, ICV, the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) and Seduc, through the Regional Education Directorate (DRE) of Confresa. 

 Another initiative by Catrapovos – MT seeks to identify foods that are on a larger scale and can be offered to schools throughout the state and even the country, such as baru, jatobá, pequi, babassu, Brazil nuts and honey.   

“The adaptation of public policy values ​​the ways of life of these people and the adaptations they have developed over time to be in these spaces. Traditional peoples and communities have learned to live in each environment and in each biome. Making the food they produce reach school meals is decolonizing through food, which is important for the resilience of these people and their agricultural systems,” said Marcelo Martins. 

Another action by Catrapovos in 2024 was participation in the 2nd Agroecology Week, with the promotion of a table with the participation of ISA, ICV, Conab, Seduc. Representatives of the Kamadu State Indigenous School and quilombolas were able to share their experiences with traditional school meals. 

“During the meeting, representatives from Seduc reported that, with the articulation of Catrapovos, there is greater participation of indigenous and quilombola schools in the PNAE”, said Luísa Tui. 

By the end of 2024, at least 30 indigenous schools and three quilombolas in Mato Grosso had presented traditional preparations in the school meals to be served in 2025. 

It is estimated that in the state schools of the Xingu Indigenous Territory (TIX), the resources moved by the PNAE are around R$1 million per year. Formed by four contiguous Indigenous Lands — Xingu Indigenous Park, Wawi, Naruvôtu Pequizal and Batovi — TIX is home to 16 peoples. 

Federal Prosecutor in Amazonas, Fernando Merloto Soave, who together with three other prosecutors coordinates Catrapovos Brasil, believes that the PAA and PNAE are public policies that can have positive impacts in several areas, in addition to food, such as public safety in the territories, health, youth empowerment and the climate crisis.

“Providing access to sustainable income generation often means keeping these people away from the lure of mining, drug trafficking, and deforestation, as well as the recruitment of young people and leaders into illicit activities. Today, unfortunately, some indigenous, quilombola, and riverine youth are leaving their territories due to a lack of public policies and prospects, and some even end up getting involved with alcohol and drugs, with negative impacts on mental health issues, depression, and suicide. By facilitating and adapting access to public policies, we can mitigate countless problems, contribute to food security and healthy eating, but also to public safety and mental health,” he said.

Adequacy

It may seem easy to bring food from the farm to school. But it is not. Complex legislation was preventing many farmers from accessing the policy. Several rounds of negotiations were held to add adjustments to the policy. 

In October 2023, the National Education Development Fund (FNDE) released the Technical Note 3744623/2023. Previously there was already the Technical Note No. 3/2020/6th CCR/MPF. The documents are the result of discussions promoted by the Catrapovos Brasil Permanent Dialogue Table.

Among the innovations brought by the technical notes is the expansion of the range of products that can be delivered directly to schools in the communities, in a direct purchase system. In addition to plant-based products in natura, processed products such as flour and cakes, and products of animal origin such as fish and chicken. 

There was also a simplification in the documentation to be presented by the producer and the opening of a specific public call for traditional peoples and communities.  

Other challenges remain to be resolved in order to expand the program, which does not yet cover the entire state and school system. Among them are those involving the issuance of tax receipts, an issue that will be debated in 2025. With the adjustments, public agencies will include indigenous people, quilombolas and traditional communities — and their ways of life — to the center of the discussion. 

“The adjustments to public policy recognize that these populations have their own way of producing and preserving food and have knowledge about food that is important to be taken into account. This is very innovative in terms of public policy,” concluded Luísa Tui.