Connecting the learning garden to family production and school food supplies, with evidence for each stage.
Proposal under studyFrom school to family, from family production to school meals
The complete cycle is a proposal for implementation. The cases below document parts of it; combining different experiences does not establish that one school already carries out all stages.
Learning garden
Define space, adult responsibilities and learning activities.
Seeds and seedlings
Identify the origin, species and operator responsible for planting material.
Donations to families
Record access criteria, batches and donation authorization.
Family production
Plan extension support, seasonality and delivery capacity.
School procurement
Qualify suppliers and select them under public procurement rules.
Family participation and public procurement
The school connection guides outreach and support to families. Supplier qualification and selection follow the applicable procurement rules; receiving seeds or having an enrolled child does not guarantee a contract.
Compare experiences by stage
Institutional implementation reports with scope and date. “Not documented” indicates a gap in the consulted source, not the absence of the activity.
Stages supported by evidence in each experience
Experience
School production
Seeds or seedlings
Donations to families
Family cultivation
School procurement
No experience matches the filters. Broaden the selection to see other cases.
Brazil · Cmei Conjunto Vera Cruz II, Goiânia, Goiás
Home Gardens: seedlings for families
The education department reports seedlings delivered to enrolled children’s families.
View evidence and limits
Seeds or seedlings: The Home Gardens project provided vegetable seedlings to families during a distribution attended by municipal officials. Source ↗
What the source does not establish: School production of seedlings, a garden, subsequent cultivation and purchases from parents are not established. Delivery is explicit, but free provision is not; doacao_familias is therefore unmarked.
Uganda · Karamoja, Uganda; Namalu Mixed Primary is mentioned in the regional account
School gardens and cuttings taken home
WFP reports school sweet-potato cultivation and cuttings taken home.
View evidence and limits
School production: Children learn cultivation in school demonstration gardens, take vine cuttings home and teach parents. The gardens supplement school meals. Source ↗
Seeds or seedlings: Children learn cultivation in school demonstration gardens, take vine cuttings home and teach parents. The gardens supplement school meals. Source ↗
What the source does not establish: Teaching parents does not confirm their actual cultivation. Purchases from parents, each cutting’s origin and explicitly free provision are undocumented. The regional account does not attribute every activity to Namalu.
Sierra Leone · Tawuya, Kambia district, Sierra Leone
Farmer mothers sell to their children’s school
Women farmers supply their children’s school for payment.
View evidence and limits
Seeds or seedlings: WFP supplies seeds to the producer group. Source ↗
Family cultivation: Mothers cultivate collectively and receive payment for school orders. WFP funds schools to buy vegetables from these producers. Source ↗
School procurement: Mothers cultivate collectively and receive payment for school orders. WFP funds schools to buy vegetables from these producers. Source ↗
What the source does not establish: Seeds come from WFP, not the school. No school garden or school donation to families is documented. Cultivo_familiar here means collective production by mothers, not verified household plots or a legal farming classification.
Brazil · Escola Municipal Prof. Fauze Scaff Gattass Filho, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul
School nursery donates seedlings to families
School-grown seedlings are donated free, mostly to students’ families.
View evidence and limits
School production: The school describes its garden, vegetable seedlings produced in its nursery and explicitly free donations to families. Source ↗
Seeds or seedlings: The school describes its garden, vegetable seedlings produced in its nursery and explicitly free donations to families. Source ↗
Donations to families: The school describes its garden, vegetable seedlings produced in its nursery and explicitly free donations to families. Source ↗
Family cultivation: Families, including parents and guardians, cultivate plots inside the school. Source ↗
What the source does not establish: School purchases are unproven. Documented family cultivation occurs at school; household planting by every recipient is not established.
Summary of official sources consulted. Implementation requires defining responsibility for production, donations and procurement in each school system.
Being a parent does not create automatic priority
Article 14 of Law 11,947/2009 prioritizes agrarian reform settlements, traditional Indigenous communities, quilombola communities, and formal and informal groups of women; paragraph 4 includes formal and informal groups of young farmers. Being a student’s parent is not an independent criterion in these provisions. For the general public call, Article 36 of Resolution 4/2026 uses locality, followed by priority populations, organic/agroecological production and organizational form. Resolution 6/2026 preserves PNAE rules when allowing Contrata+Brasil. For the specific call serving traditional peoples and communities, Article 11 of Resolution 11/2026 prioritizes groups producing in the community where the school is located, followed by individual suppliers producing there. Community ties and local production are not equivalent to parenthood. Farmer parents may compete under the applicable eligibility and selection rules.
Summary of applicable criteria, without creating a parent-only allocation in the call. The school authority must determine the procurement regime and each supplier’s eligibility.
Since 1 January 2026, Article 14 of Law 11,947/2009, as amended by Law 15,226/2025, requires at least 45% of FNDE transfers under PNAE to fund direct purchases of food from family farmers, rural family entrepreneurs or their organizations. The percentage applies to those transfers, not the entire school budget, and is not an allocation for students’ parents. Paragraph 2 provides exceptions to compliance with the percentage, subject to FNDE rules. Resolutions 6/2026 and 11/2026 do not change this statutory percentage.
Donations are not purchases and do not count towards this minimum. Expenditure and exceptions must be assessed under the applicable reporting rules.
RENASEM exemptions do not automatically extend to a school
Article 8 of Law 10,711/2003 requires RENASEM registration for the listed activities and exempts family farmers, agrarian reform settlers and Indigenous people multiplying seeds/seedlings for distribution, exchange or sale among themselves. Article 4(1)(I–II) of Decree 10,586/2020 covers beneficiaries qualifying under Law 11,326/2006 and associations/cooperatives under its specified conditions, including supply to government programmes. A school does not qualify for those categories merely by donating material to farmers or serving their children. These provisions therefore provide no basis to automatically transfer the recipient’s exemption to school production. Free distribution alone does not establish an exemption.
This does not mean that every learning garden needs RENASEM registration. Activity, operator, purpose and species determine the applicable rules; the school’s actual situation needs checking.
Landraces, RNC and harvested food are distinct matters
Law 10,711/2003 defines seedlings by their intended use for planting and seeds by their intended use for sowing. Harvest intended for food does not become propagation material merely because it is grain or can germinate. Article 11(6) waives registration in the National Cultivar Register (RNC) for local, traditional or landrace cultivars used by family farmers, settlers or Indigenous people. This cultivar exemption is not a general RENASEM exemption for every producer. The legal landrace definition requires the characteristics and community recognition in Article 2(XVI). Article 48 provides for inclusion in public programmes serving family farmers while retaining other legal requirements; it does not grant schools a general exemption.
This summary does not certify a variety as a landrace or authorize school propagation. Food and planting material have their own requirements.
A donation does not replace procurement selection and contract
For PNAE purchases, Article 14(1) of Law 11,947/2009 makes exemption from bidding conditional on local-market-compatible prices, constitutional public-administration principles and food quality. Purchasing must follow the nutritionist’s menu under Articles 11–13. Article 39 of Resolution 4/2026 provides for a contract after approval of the public call; Resolution 11/2026 retains a specific call, contract and administrative file for traditional peoples and communities. Article 5(2) of Law 11,947/2009 allocates the transfers to food purchasing. Applied to this arrangement: a prior donation of food, seeds or seedlings does not qualify its recipient, guarantee a purchase or turn planting inputs into food purchased under PNAE. Authorization to donate and procurement of the harvest require their own legal bases.
Donation authorization depends on local powers and rules. Article 21-A addresses exceptional distribution of PNAE food during school closures caused by emergencies or disasters; it does not by itself authorize ordinary donations.
Preparatory stages without promises of purchases, productivity or income. Adults are responsible for commercial production; students participate for educational purposes.
1. Demand and territory
Match the menu, school calendar, products and interested families; map access to land, water and extension support.
Verifiable output: An aggregate capacity and demand map by product and period, without a contract promise.
2. Responsibilities and resources
Define the school authority, technical lead, producer organization and budget for each stage. Separate production support, donations and food purchases.
Verifiable output: A responsibility and funding plan for approval by the competent authority.
3. Nursery and traceability
Choose species with extension support; check soil and water, the applicable activity rules, seed origin and batch health.
Verifiable output: A batch record specifying food or planting use, the responsible operator and applicable checks.
4. Donation and follow-up
Set transparent participation criteria and monitor planting and losses without exclusive-sale requirements or linking school benefits to production.
Verifiable output: A local donation document and aggregate follow-up record; personal data stays out of publications.
5. Procurement, delivery and payment
Prepare qualification and sales proposals, harvest forecasts and logistics. Receive food against technical criteria and document payment.
Verifiable output: Traceable selection, contract, acceptance and payment records kept separate from donations.
6. Pilot evaluation
Compare planned and observed results by season and record costs and voluntary participation. Examine exclusions, losses and delays before expanding.
Verifiable output: A results and limitations report; do not attribute effects to the initiative without an evaluation design.
Proposed indicators without measured values yet. Record school, territory, product, period and unit. Distinguish donations, production, contracts, accepted deliveries and payments.
Planting material
Batches distributed, species, quantity, unit, origin and destination. Record germination or establishment with its own method and date.
Do not add seeds, seedlings and kilograms; delivery of material does not prove cultivation.
Production and losses
Production and losses by crop, batch and season in compatible units. Separate school land from family land.
Production records do not prove increased income or better nutrition.
Supply and income
Contracted and accepted quantities, payments and declared costs by period. Identify parental participation only in aggregate data.
Sales revenue is not profit. A contract or delivery does not equal payment.
Participation and learning
Families invited, participating and leaving, with aggregate reasons; learning activities delivered and evaluation methods.
Voluntary participation and causal effects require different assessments; do not publish children’s identities.
The template is blank. Identify families by an internal code; publish aggregates only, without children’s names, personal tax IDs or home addresses.