Malnutrition and hunger run counter to the region’s large food production potential, according to a United Nations body
THE Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) this week it released the Landscape of Regional Food and Nutrition Security in Latin America 2022, a document that warns of lack of access to a healthy diet for more than 131 million people on the continent.
The profound consequences of COVID-19 in everything Latin America and not Caribbean they were aggravated by the harmful effects of the war Ukraine and an economic slowdown which, together with the multiple impacts of climate change, has driven up the prices of fertilizers and food.
According to the agency, the situation in which this part of the planet lives is a contradiction: with a food production potential that would support 1.3 billion people – double its population -, the region registers high levels of malnutrition, hunger and insecurity even higher than the global averages, with 40.6% of the population experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2021.
According to the new UN report, 22.5% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean lack sufficient means to have access to a healthy diet. In the Caribbean, 52% of the population has been affected by this situation; in Mesoamerica this number reaches 27.8% and in South America 18.4%.
The lack of convenience of a healthy diet, says the organization, is in turn associated with various socio-economic and nutritional indicators, establishing a relationship between a country’s income level, the incidence of poverty and the level of inequality.
“No single policy can provide the solution to this problem. National and regional coordination mechanisms need to be strengthened to respond to hunger and malnutrition,” said FAO Deputy Director and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mario Lubetkin.
“To contribute to the accessibility of healthy diets, it is necessary to create incentives for the diversification of the production of nutritious food intended mainly for family farming and small producers, measures for the transparency of the prices of these foods in markets and trade, money and other actions such as improving school menus,” he added.
The role of markets
In its publication, FAO said both trade policies and markets can play an important role in improving food conditions on the continent, promoting transparency and efficiency to reduce uncertainty, improving trade predictability and stability agribusiness in the region.
“We are talking about the region with the most expensive healthy diet in the world, which particularly affects vulnerable populations – small farmers, rural women and Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples – who spend a greater percentage of their income on food,” said the director regional of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)Rossana Polastri.
“To reverse this situation, we need to promote innovative solutions that diversify production and increase the supply of healthy food and improve small producers’ access to markets and quality food,” he said.
THE Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) it reported last December that the slowdown in the region will intensify in 2023 and that the growth rate will be only 1.3%, 0.1% lower than in 2023.
This daunting prospect, which, according to FAO data, affects children under 5 and women, who suffer a higher prevalence of food insecurity than men.
On the other hand, hunger levels in the region continue to rise: between 2019 and 2021, this number increased by 13.2 million, reaching a total of 56.5 million hungry people in 2021. South America has spearheaded this trend, with an additional 11 million people going hungry.
Between 2019 and 2021, hunger reached a prevalence of 7.9% in South America, 8.4% in Mesoamerica and 16.4% in the Caribbean. Other numbers presented in the report show that the region shows a significant evolution in relation to the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years of age.
In 2020, this number was 11.3% in Latin America and the Caribbean, about 10 percentage points below the global average. However, 3.9 million children up to age 5 are overweight./EFE
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Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
