Hunger grew by 30% in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2019, according to the FAO

The number of people suffering from hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased by 30% since 2019 due to aspects such as the covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine.

This was stated in an interview with EFE by the Deputy Director General and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the FAO, Mario Lubetkinwho asserts that “there are more than 56 million people in a situation of hunger”, 30% more than the 43 million in 2019.

protect producers

During the talk, he highlighted that the climate issue “it is weighing more and more” and adds that, on some occasions, in the region -and in Europe- there are combinations “dramatic” of droughts and floods, for which reason he advocates “protect producers”.

“The rise in prices arises from the complete destruction of plantations, but it is also the tremendous affectation of small family farming producers, so it is a double effect”, points out the deputy director.

For this reason, he proposesprevent the foreseeable and mitigate the mitigable” to prepare small producers and family farmers for a scenario that “can terribly affect”, a situation for which governments and international institutions “they have to prepare to help financially”.

“First, face the moment in the best possible way; second, to generate adequate funds to absorb the impact on the operator, and third, that the actors, in this case governments and the public and private sectors, manage to partially absorb the impact of prices that will go directly to the final consumer”, sums up Lubetkin.

Importance of family farming

In this sense, the FAO representative in Latin America and the Caribbean maintains that the institution does “a very big effort in family farming”, because it represents 80% of the work base at the land level and because “guarantees quality production”.

In fact, in 2019 the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028) began with the aim of vindicating the performance of these family enterprises in the eradication of hunger, food security and sustainable development, especially in areas rural.

One of the initiatives that FAO has on the table is to bring family farming to school canteens so that, based on production in small distances, students “have the guarantee of lunch” because “It’s the best way to reason.”

He argues that not protecting family farming “poses a danger” because “if the family farmer has his properties destroyed, he goes directly to the poverty line, in which there is no buffer”.

Commitment to innovation

Another of the lines of work promoted by FAO are innovation and digitization processes to “do much more with much less” and thus promote food security and agricultural development.

This commitment to the transformation of the sector has resulted in projects such as “1,000 digital villages”, designed to provide support and assistance to countries to improve the use of digital tools in agri-food systems and rural territories.

Specifically, in Latin America and the Caribbean, this initiative is aimed at rural tourism and seeks to help local communities take advantage of the advantages offered by the digital environment to promote their tourism services, increase income and generate employment.

“Today I feel that there is a scenario of greater awareness and responsibility on the part of the authorities, because the reality of the transformation of food systems has been placed at the center of attention of governments and public opinion like never before in history.”, concludes Lubetkin.

Source: EFE