Brazil approves ‘Food on the Plate’ Plan

The Brazilian Federal Government, through the Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family and Hunger Eradication (Ministério do Desenvolvimento e Assistência Social, Família e Combate à Fome / MDS) and the Interministerial Chamber for Food and Nutritional Security (Câmara Interministerial de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional / CAISAN), approved the First National Food Supply Plan – Food on the Plate (Primeiro Plano Nacional de Abastecimento Alimentar – Alimento no Prato) for the 2025-2028 period and established the National Food Supply Policy (Política Nacional de Abastecimento Alimentar / PNAAB). The initiatives were formalized this Monday, October 21, with the publication of CAISAN Resolution/MDS No. 8 in the Federal Official Gazette (Diário Oficial da União / D.O.U.).

Aiming to promote a structured and inclusive food supply system based on the human right to adequate food and on food sovereignty, the Food on the Plate Plan consists of six main objectives.

The plan includes establishing a supply system that provides access to healthy foods in a sustainable, inclusive and fair way. It also seeks to expand access to the foods in the Basic Food Hamper (Cesta Básica), reduce price volatility, consider regional factors and resume the formation of public stocks. Additionally, the plan aims to expand access to rural credit and technical assistance to support the transition to agroecological practices, promote the production and supply of essential, healthy and sustainable foods and create supply chains that work with Food and Nutritional Security structures to ensure aid reaches populations facing social vulnerability or climate emergencies.

The Food on the Plate Plan also aims to prioritize values such as access to land, territories and water, with special attention to the specificities of Indigenous peoples, Quilombolas and traditional communities.

Beneficiaries of the 2025-2028 Food on the Plate Plan include the entire Brazilian population, particularly people in states of food and nutritional vulnerability; family farmers, including rural youth, women farmers and those from riverside and forest communities; settlers from the agrarian reform; and Indigenous peoples, Quilombola communities and traditional communities engaged in food production. The plan also benefits entities, organizations and social movements that produce healthy foods or engage in actions to promote food supply.

PNAAB – Created through Decree No. 11,820, from December 12, 2023, the National Food Supply Policy (Política Nacional de Abastecimento Alimentar / PNAAB) is part of the National Food and Nutritional Security System (Sistema Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional / SISAN), with the support of several guidelines.

These include bolstering an integrated food supply system encompassing production, processing, storage, transportation, distribution, commercialization and consumption to promote food and nutritional sovereignty and security.