Food insecurity: up to 4 out of 10 Peruvians are malnourished

Until March of this year, the caloric deficit —which measures the amount of calories consumed for a home—in Peru it reached 35.4%, while in metropolitan Lima it amounted to 40.7%, according to data from the latest report on Evolution of Living Conditions from the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI).

Thus, from an approximation to food poverty, up to 4 out of 10 Peruvians would not be accessing the food required for good nutrition, according to Silvana Vargas, a professor at PUCP and former head of Midis.

This occurs in a context in which the caloric deficit values ​​have been showing an increase since 2019, being Lima and Callao where the higher rate.

“We are facing a growing trend of caloric deficit, food insecurity more generally, and a deterioration of the diet. It is not just a problem of caloric intake, but of malnutrition,” Javier Herrera, an IRD researcher, told La República.

Inflation, the big culprit

Among the main reasons, specialists point to high inflation, which for May stood at 7.89%, and the rise of various basic household products.

For Herrera, high inflationary levels They have meant a recomposition of the food basket: the contributions of those products rich in animal proteins decreased and there has been an increase in carbohydrates that have not managed to compensate for the drop in the amounts consumed.

To this is added that poverty by the end of 2022 rose from 25.9% to 27.5% of the population, and the agricultural sector it fell 14.21% for April (see chart).

In this line, Vargas indicated that other dimensions are added to these factors that cause caloric intake to not be satisfied, such as “the nature of the food production processes, the crisis in the agricultural sector, where the issues of the absence of of fertilizers and climate change, and the lack of governance”.

On the other hand, there is also the reduced growth projection of the Peruvian economy for this year. The MEF lowered it to 2.5%, while the BCRP and the World Bank place it at 2.2%, and the OECD has reduced it to 1.7%. To this are added internal factors, such as climate problems of the El Niño phenomenon.

“This impact, which affects food insecurity, is going to play against small agriculture and small producers, also in basic necessities,” Herrera said. Likewise, he reiterated that especially in Lima the food situation could worsen even more.

Poverty will not be reduced in the coming years

The weak progress of the peruvian economy it would cause poverty to rebound in 2023 and 2024, according to BBVA Research, which would translate into a low employment rate and low income for the household. It is worth remembering that they expect the GDP to grow just 1.6% for the current year.

In terms of monetary poverty, for the current and the coming year, this would reach peaks of 28.6% and 28.9%, respectively: around 9.5 million compatriots would continue with a poor quality of life.

Already from the Private Council of Competitiveness They warned that if Peru maintains an annual rate of 2% in GDP, it would take 28 years to reduce poverty to 20%, the threshold before the coronavirus.