AVALIAÇÃO E CONTRIBUIÇÃO DO FOOD MILES DA MANGA: DO CAMPO AO CONSUMIDOR

ABSTRACT Mangifera indica L., belonging to the Anacardiacea family, originally from India, found ideal climate, soil and water availability conditions for its production in the São Francisco Valley, thus occupying a prominent position in terms of area size and production volume. and export of the fruit in the Brazilian scenario. In line with the concept of food miles, the distance that food travels from the field to the consumer, we studied the route of the mango for the Tommy Atkins, Palmer and Keitt varieties, in the commercialization chain to supply the domestic market, originating in the São Francisco Valley. We defined the flow, the participating agents, we map the path from the field to the consumer, quantifying the concept of food miles individualized by variety. For the Tommy Atkins, Palmer and Keitt variety, food miles were allocated, respectively, of 2.431 km, 2.428 km and 598 km, which implies a long journey, mainly due to the large territorial size of the country and the distance to the food niches more “demanding” consumer market. This also made it possible to calculate the CO2 emissions burned by fossil fuel when using road transport in this chain. Using the DEFRA formula, we obtained the CO2 emission calculation, Tommy Atkins 2.293,72 kgCO2equation, Palmer 2.290,89 kgCO2equation and Keitt 564 kgCO2equation. Thus, the concept of food miles can be a good tool for studying the entire flow of the marketing chain, in order to understand, analyze and adjust, contributing to improvements in the environmental, nutritional, social and financial efficiency of the entire chain. Key-words: São Francisco Valley, Sustainability, Commercialization.