Abastecimiento de alimentos producidos por la agricultura familiar en la alimentación escolar en Costa Rica: Potencialidades y limitaciones.

School feeding has been considered as a linking mechanism between family farming production and food consumption, being a meeting point between public feeding and sustainable development. In this process, the operation of the Programa de Abastecimiento Institucional (PAI) within the scope of the Programa de Alimentación y Nutrición del Escolar y del Adolescente (PANEA) regain interest. The objective of this article is to analyze the main potentialities and limitations of the food supply process produced by agricultural families for school feeding in Costa Rica. A qualitative research was carried out with semistructured interviews and discussion groups with the participation of various actors involved in two pilot projects (2016-2018) of the Escuelas Sostennibles initiative in the towns of Frailes in Desamparados and Coto Brus. As a result, it is evident that the main limitations lie in the lack of mechanisms that provide differentiated treatment for food supply produced by local agricultural families. On the other hand, the potential experiences of the process are expressed in values that exceed the economic aspects, they are presented in sociocultural and ethical manifestations generated during the reception of food in educational centers, responding to the social market construction that characterize public purchases of food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]