Director of FAO in Latin America: “Hunger is not from the right or the left, it is hunger”

The deputy director general and representative for Latin America of the FAO, Mario Lubetkin, said in an interview with EFE that governments and heads of state, regardless of their political color, have to take charge of the food security agenda because “Hunger is not from the right or the left, it is hunger”.

“Food security has not become an element of confrontation [entre ideologías políticas]like other issues in society (…) As long as the countries are clear about that vision, we will have a great road to advance”, added the Uruguayan journalist.

His statements took place in the prelude to two parliamentary meetings (one regional and one international), which are being held this week in Chile, with representatives from the entire political spectrum involved in the fight against hunger and convened by the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO).

On the one hand, this Wednesday the X Forum of the Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean (FPH-ALC) will take place, which will bring together more than 70 legislators from a dozen Ibero-American and Caribbean countries in the Chilean capital.

On the other hand, on Thursday and Friday the Valparaíso Congress will host the Second World Parliamentary Summit Against Hunger and Malnutrition, in which Chilean President Gabriel Boric will participate, and which will bring together more than 150 legislators from around the world.

“Food safety is not a bowl of rice”

FAO hopes that the meeting will result in a “global pact” against hunger and malnutrition which, for Lubetkin, “it has to pay close attention to all environmental effects and contribute to peace scenarios”, especially in the armed conflicts of countries like Yemen, Somalia or South Sudan, “where millions of people are hungry”.

Five years after the first edition of the world summit that took place in Madrid, the regional director invited the attending politicians to “communicate” and “put in common” the achievements made in this period, such as the school feeding law approved in Guatemala (2017), the Family Agriculture Law of El Salvador (2021), the Law for the Promotion of Beekeeping Activities in Chile (2022), the Agrarian Reform of Mexico (2022) or the food labeling laws established in various countries in the region.

More than 80 national and regional laws and policies for the transformation of agri-food systems have been approved, according to the FAO, in Latin America and the Caribbean, “the most powerful region in food production”, Lubetkin describes.

With a population of 700 million, the region could produce for 1,300 million people -according to the FAO-, but the costs of eating well reach US$3.89 per person per day, above the world average (US$3.54) and a one of the highest in the world, according to the communicator.

“Food safety is not a bowl of rice. It is the management of the land and water, the use of the seed, the support for the family producer, the economic sustenance and the zero kilometer for it to be produced in the territory.”, he clarified to later link food with nutrition: “Both hungry people and obese and overweight people are part of the same package.”.

In his opinion, the “new phenomena”, such as obesity, require a more “complete” which has already started to install: “Unlike in the past, when only the ministers of Agriculture were concerned, today there is no food security without the participation of the ministers of Economy, Agriculture, Environment, Foreign Relations, Education or Health.“, held.

“It has come to stay”

The major challenge for States is now to meet the commitments of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with only seven years ahead of the set deadlines, but the director distilled some optimism: “There are many dangers so that they are not reached, but we still have several years”.

To achieve the goals, says Lubetkin, it is necessary to involve all the actors, beyond governments: from legislators, to civil society, the private sector and the Academy, and face the issue “with all seriousness and visionwhich requires because, he concludes, “food security is here to stay”.

Source: EFE