Ruptures in the agroecological transitions: institutional change and policy dismantling in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is one of the few countries that has implemented policies aimed at supporting agroecological transition processes on a national scale. While its experience has caught the attention of the international community interested in building sustainable and healthy food systems, recent literature points to the dismantling of these policies. This article identifies the variety of dismantling strategies to analyze how they are linked to the modification of the policy paradigm. Results suggest that the formation of a 'clientelist-corporocratic' paradigm legitimized active and visible dismantling strategies, such as the extinction of policy instruments and the delegitimization of agroecology through discursive mechanisms.

Agroecologically-conducive policies: A review of recent advances and remaining challenges

“…On the other hand, Sabourin et al (2018) note that despite progress towards agroecological investment and enabling policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, implementation of these policies has been blunted by their embedment within programs that largely support conventional agriculture, as has happened in India (Dorin 2021;Dorin and Julien 2004). It has also been observed that various investment plans to support agroecology are sensitive to changes in government, as noted in Brazil (Niederle et al 2022). These cases are fairly representative globally of small-scale successes that resulted from policy actions.…”

“…However, there are very significant differences regarding both what the territories historically represent for the socio-political logic in each country and the dynamics of reconstruction of these territories through the action of public policies. There are also challenges facing the persistence of policies over time, such as the CAP in Europe (and its national and sub-national declinations), and political volatility such as in the example of Brazil (Sabourin et al 2020;Niederle et al 2022). In general, devolution of responsibility for natural resource management from national to local levels, has often not been accompanied with the requisite authority to make rules and control revenue from their use (Chomba et al 2016).…”

Políticas alimentares e referenciais setoriais na trajetória brasileira

“…Em relação à agricultura familiar, as mudanças institucionais, políticas e econômicas alteraram ainda mais as relações de poder entre os atores do meio rural brasileiro. O desenvolvimento rural passou a ser pautado -quase que exclusivamente -por organizações, grupos políticos e acadêmicos que representam os interesses do agronegócio, compreendendo o rural a partir de interpretações agrícolas produtivistas e sustentando a existência de uma única agricultura no Brasil (portanto, sem necessidade de políticas diferenciadas) (Niederle et al, 2022;Grisa, 2018). Essas ideias, associadas ao ajuste fiscal e ao interesse em atrair investimentos privados, têm confluído para um processo de desmantelamento das políticas públicas, o que implica mudanças diretas, indiretas, ocultas ou simbólicas no sentido de reduzir o número de políticas, instrumentos ou intensidade da ação em uma área particular (Bauer & Knill, 2012, p. 35).…”

“…A pandemia provocada pelo novo coronavírus em 2020, que visibilizou e trouxe à tona diversas problemáticas alimentares -riscos de desabastecimento alimentar, aumento do desemprego e da pobreza, vulnerabilidade ao vírus devido às comorbidades derivadas da má alimentação -, poderia configurar-se como um "momento crítico" ou "evento externo" (Mahoney, 2001) que tensionaria o referencial global e, mormente, o referencial setorial. Todavia, em que pesem algumas ações implementadas a partir de forte pressão de organizações da sociedade civil -criação do auxílio Emergencial, ampliação de recursos para o PAA e distribuição emergencial de cestas de alimentos -o referencial setorial do desmantelamento continua presente, expressandose de diferentes modos, seja de maneira ativa por meio de desregulamentações ambientais e fundiárias ou de vetos à propostas de ações e políticas públicas, ou ainda, de maneira simbólica e discursiva, negando problemas sociais e ambientais relacionados às questões alimentares ou mesmo a própria gravidade da pandemia (Niederle et al, 2022;Caponi, 2020).…”

Food policies and sectorial referentials in the Brazilian trajectory

“…With regard to family farming, institutional, political and economic changes have further altered the power relations between actors in the Brazilian rural environment. Rural development started to be guided -almost exclusively -by organizations, and political and academic groups that represent the interests of agribusiness, viewing farming from an agricultural productivist perspective and supporting the existence of a single agriculture in Brazil (therefore, with no need for differentiated policies) (Niederle et al, 2022;Grisa, 2018). These ideas, along with fiscal adjustment and the interest in attracting private investments, have converged into a process of dismantling of public policies, which implies direct, indirect, hidden or symbolic changes to reduce the number of policies, instruments or intensity of action on a particular area (Bauer & Knill, 2012, p. 35).…”