Food insecurity affects 70 million Brazilians

Chronic undernourishment, the most extreme level caused by food insecurity, affected 4.7% of the population in Brazil between 2020 and 2022. This means that, in absolute numbers, 10.1 million people suffer from hunger in the country. The data are in the global report State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, released this Wednesday (12) by five specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). One in ten Brazilians (9.9%) experienced severe food insecurity between 2020 and 2022, shows the study. In addition, almost a third (32.8%) of the country’s population is included in the categories of severe or moderate food insecurity, which is equivalent to 70.3 million Brazilians. The situation shows a worsening in access to food security in the country. Previous data, from 2014 to 2016, indicated a percentage of 18.3%. The study classifies severe food insecurity as a level of severity in which, at some point in the year, people run out of food and go hungry, which can happen, in more extreme cases, for an entire day or more. Hunger itself is a long-lasting situation, which causes an uncomfortable or painful feeling due to insufficient energy from food. Finally, moderate food insecurity is one in which people face uncertainty about their ability to obtain food and are forced to reduce, at certain times of the year, the quality and quantity of food they consume, due to lack of money or other factors. resources. The national data are part of a global study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), the World Organization (WHO) and the World Food Program (WFP). Worsening The United Nations agencies warn that hunger is a problem that has worsened in the last period analyzed, with an increase of 122 million people in this situation. Altogether, the world has about 735 million people suffering from hunger, a contingent that would be the third most populous country in the world, behind only India and China, and which exceeds the entire population of the European continent. According to the report, the worsening situation is related to the covid-19 pandemic and repeated shocks and conflicts, including the war in Ukraine. With the trend indicated by the data, the UN warns that the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030 will not be achieved. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu highlighted that the recovery from the global pandemic has been uneven, and that the war in Ukraine has taken a toll on nutritious food and healthy diets. “This is the ‘new normal’ in which climate change, conflict and economic instability are pushing those on the margins even further away from safety. We cannot adopt a business-as-usual approach,” he said, according to a text released by the FAO. For the president of the World Food Program (WFP), Alvaro Lario, the goal of ending hunger can be achieved, but it requires more investment and political will to be directed to scale the solutions that already exist. “We can eradicate hunger if we make it a global priority. Investments in small farmers and their adaptation to climate change, access to inputs and technologies and funding to set up small agribusinesses can make a difference. Small producers are part of the solution. With With the right support, they can produce more food, diversify production and supply urban and rural markets – feeding rural areas and cities with nutritious, locally grown food.” Billions of people affected Despite hunger being the most extreme situation indicated by the report, food insecurity and the costs of maintaining a healthy diet are other indicators that are of concern to the authors of the study. Moderate food insecurity reached 2.4 billion people in the period from 2020 to 2022, while the costs of a healthy diet were unaffordable for 3.1 billion people, causing problems such as 148 million children under 5 with short stature and 37 million overweight. The report further shows the uneven impact of the pandemic and global economic shocks. In low-income countries, severe food insecurity increased from 22.5% to 28%, while in high-income countries, the variation was from 1.5% to 1.6%. The African continent is the most affected by hunger and food insecurity: one in five people who suffer from hunger in the world lives in African countries. The situation is more serious in East Africa and Central Africa, regions where hunger reaches 28.4% of the population.

Agência Brasil