Latin America and the Caribbean are directly suffering the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and international armed conflicts. Rising food prices and the very high dependence of some countries on grain imports are contributing to already existing disruptions in supply chains and the loss of jobs and income. Added to this is the impact of climate change in the region, the severity of which is becoming more visible and evident every day.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and WFP (World Food Program) estimates show that between 2019 and 2020, the number of people suffering from moderate or severe food insecurity in the region will increase by more than 60 million. And in 2021, this phenomenon affected almost 41 percent of the population (well above the world average of 30.4 percent). In this context, efforts to end malnutrition and insufficient food intake, and to meet Development Goal 2 (which focuses on achieving zero hunger worldwide) seem increasingly difficult to achieve.

However, we know that Latin America and the Caribbean is a region of solutions when it comes to managing the global problems associated with food insecurity. First, because it is the world’s largest net exporter of food. Second, because it contains a unique wealth of biodiversity and water. And thirdly, because it has quality technical resources for training and commitment to the true transformation of the world’s agricultural and food systems. Within this framework, a multisectoral and articulated approach is absolutely necessary to reduce existing gaps and inequalities, and generate the changes and transformations needed to guarantee better health and nutrition for all.

For this reason, we at CAF-Development Bank of Latin America understand the importance of promoting actions that include improvements in drinking water supply, sanitation, irrigation and technological innovation services, as well as food production and commercialization capacities and good practices in the hygiene sector.

For this, we set aside financing mechanisms and non-reimbursable technical cooperation for our member countries, which are based on a comprehensive approach. In Bolivia, for example, we approved a loan of 35 million dollars to strengthen the production system of basic crops with technical irrigation techniques, which generated more than 65 thousand new hectares of irrigation. Meanwhile, in Argentina, we are supporting the launch and implementation of the AlimentAR card, with $700 million in funding, to guarantee access to healthy food for 2.4 million vulnerable families in the country. In Ecuador, we are supporting the implementation of the Strategy Ecuador grows without malnutrition, through a loan of 350 million dollars. While in Peru, we collaborate with operations exceeding $500 million to implement public-private partnership projects, which have generated more than 113,000 new hectares of irrigation. In Panama, we are supporting the launch of the Controlled Environment Research and Production Center (CIPAC), with funding of $19 million.

In parallel, we have established a number of credit lines with a network of entities and development banks for financing small and medium-sized enterprises in agriculture, we have allocated concrete equity investments and other instruments related to the sector.

In addition, we hold meetings, panels and presentations where experts in the field seek to identify challenges, strategies and priority actions to address the various dimensions of food security. In this context, in September 2022, we held the panel “Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean” in New York, as part of the event “Many Voices, One Region: Latin America and the Caribbean Working on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. A number of conclusions were drawn there, including the importance of combining public policies, investments in agri-food and environmental systems, nutrition practices and social protection mechanisms to end food insecurity in the region and the world.

Our organization is convinced that the joint work of government agencies, international agencies, multilateral institutions, the private sector and civil society is the only way to solve food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this way, in addition to the effort to guarantee health and nutrition on our continent, it will also contribute to the real transformation of agricultural and food systems and the consistent reduction of poverty. (OR)