Brasília – About 805 million people in the world, or one in nine, suffer from chronic hunger, as per the report State of Food Insecurity in the World (Sofi 2014), disclosed this Tuesday (16th) in Rome, Italy, by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The study has confirmed the tendency seen in the past few years for hunger to decline globally: the number of undernourished people declined by over 100 million in the past decade, and by over 200 million from 1990-1992.
According to the report, hunger reduction in developing countries means that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of undernourished people by 2015 is within reach, “if appropriate and immediate efforts are stepped up.”
The report is published jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
So far, 63 developing countries have reached the goal, including Brazil, and six other other countries are on track to reach it by 2015. “This is proof that we can win the war against hunger and should inspire countries to move forward, with the assistance of the international community as needed,” said the FAO’s director general, Brazilian-born José Graziano da Silva, IFAD’s president, Kanayo Nwanze and WFP’s executive director, Ertharin Cousin, according to the report. They stress that a “substantial and sustainable hunger reduction is possible with the requisite political commitment.”
The report includes seven case studies this year, including Brazil’s. It shows that the country has reached both the goal of halving the proportion of undernourished people – one of the MDG -, and the target of halving the number of undernourished people stipulated by the World Food Summit of 1996.
According to the FAO, from 1990 to 1992, 14.8% of the Brazilian population suffered from hunger. From 2012 to 2014, the index plummeted to 1.7%. According to the report, this places the country as one of those which have overcome the hunger problem.
For FAO’s deputy regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Eve Crowley, the implementation of a set of public policies in articulated and integrated ways and legal and institutional frameworks allowed the country to move ahead in overcoming hunger. “For the past few years, the issue of food security has been placed at the center of Brazil’s political agenda”.
In the evaluation of FAO’s counselor, Anne Kepple, Brazil stands out as a role model, due to a series of articulated public policies, such as the Bolsa Família income transfer program, the creation of formal jobs, the strengthening of family farming, the Food Purchase Program and the National School Meals Program.
The country, however, has 3.4 million people who do not have enough to eat daily, which accounts for 1.7% of the population, according to FAO. In order to have a healthy and active life, the UN recommends that a person over 12 should ingest at least 2,200 calories per day.
According to FAO’’s officials, there are still some pockets of poverty in North and Northeast Brazil. Including indigenous communities, quilombola communities (i.e. areas where escaped slave’s descendants live) and riverside communities in the social policies is a challenge for Brazil. “Ensuring the protection for the most vulnerable populations and continuing the current economic growth and social inclusion policies should be the priorities for the next decade. We may be the last generation to know hunger in Brazil. With the continuation of the policies, it is possible that in the next years hunger is completely eradicated.”
For the Brazilian minister of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Tereza Campello, hunger has ceased to be a structural problem in Brazil and became an isolated phenomenon. “Now we must move toward much more focused strategies and try to identify the populations who are still in food insecurity conditions. It is a new level,” she said.
FAO stresses that successful experiences in Brazil are being transferred to other countries.
The report pointed that in spite of the significant general progress, several regions are lagging behind. In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than one in four people still suffer from chronic hunger. Asia is home to the majority of the hungry: 526 million people. Latin America and Caribbean are the regions which showed the furthest advances.
As the number of undernourished people remains high, the heads of the agencies stressed the need to renew the political commitment to tackle hunger though concrete actions and encouraged the fulfilment of the pledge made at the 2014 African Union summit in June to end hunger in the continent by 2025.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
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