World Food Day: common pots are asked to supply 255 thousand families

On the occasion of World Food Day, Fortunata Palomino, president of the Network of Common Pots of Metropolitan Lima, requests immediate financial support from the Pedro Castillo government to feed more than 255 thousand families.

Every day, Fortunata Palomino gets up at dawn together with other mothers from Villa Torreblanca in Carabayllo. With the donations that came in and the money they were able to collect, a day they prepare 120 plates of food for children, the elderly and people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Palomino is the president of the Network of Common Pots of Metropolitan Lima. She affirms that, like her, there are 2,447 common pots that supply more than 255,000 families every day in Lima alone.

“Every day we spend between 250 to 260 soles without counting gas. The budget is insufficient and what comes from Qali Warma is not enough, “he says.

Cook and not starve

Peru lives a constant fight against hunger and malnutrition. During the pandemic, this problem has increased. This is confirmed by Carolina Trivelli, economist and regional advisor to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “between 3 or 4 million Peruvians go hungry every day. While he claims that common pots are part of the solution to hunger, the situation for common pots is precarious.

Luis Ginocchio, former Minister of Agriculture, affirms that this day reminds us of the hunger that the pandemic has brought. “Reflected in the ubiquitous ‘common pots’ so little attended, that the press denounces daily, but still with weak response from the state, companies and the community.”

The common pots ask for financial support to continue operating. Both the mothers of families who organize the pots and the children, the elderly and vulnerable people who come every day for a plate of food.

Faced with this situation, the President of the Republic, Pedro Castillo, announced that 99 million soles would serve common pots nationwide. However, Fortunata Palomino asks that this money go directly to the common pots. “We propose that this budget reaches the common pots directly because when it reaches the municipalities there is manipulation of resources. They do not get where they should go, “he said.