Socioeconomic profile, operation, commercialization and income: a case study of the paa in the city of caxias-maranhão

The work had as a maing goal approaching the economic and social aspects of the Programa Aquisição de Alimentos – PAA (Food Acquisition Program) in the “Cocais” region in the State of Maranhãowith enphasis in the city of Caxias. As specific objectives, an analysis of the socioeconomic profile of the families benefited with the PAA was done, then identifying who are the supplier beneficiaries of the program; the operation of the purchase process and the commercialization channels have also been verified. The research tool used was a case study. The data collection method was a form with open and closed questions, which were answered by the researcher. From the researched benefited, 70% are from the female gender and 30% of the male gender, 50% have age between 36-49 years old, people with ages between 18-35 representing 25% and people above 50 years old also representing 25% of the researched sample. Of the 44 individuals that participated in this study, 43% were self-declared brown, 25% Afro-Brazilian and 28% self declared as of a “brunette color”. It was observed that 61% of the beneficiaries did not complete the Elementary School. Those who received the social benefit called “Bolsa Família” are 54% being 75% of the female gender. The medium value received was of R$ 182.33, the minimum was of R$ 77.00 and the maximum was of R$ 436.00. Lastly, 14.4% of the commercialization have been done in free fairs and simultaneous direct selling, 14% done the commercialization through intermediaries, 35% by direct selling and 36.6% by free fairs.