Colombia enters the list of countries with acute food insecurity, according to the UN

The resident population in Colombia suffers for the first time acute food insecurity, according to the annual report of the Global Network against Food Crises (GNAFC) in collaboration with the FAO and other agencies of the UNwhich highlights that the percentage of the population facing it in Latin America and the Caribbean decreased during 2023.

The document published this Wednesday, which distinguishes between the resident population of Colombia and migrants and refugees, maintains that the former suffers from “one of the highest levels of poverty, income inequality and labor informality” in the region, despite being “a country medium or high income, with a high government capacity to support its population.”

In total 1.3 million people or 3% of Colombia’s resident population faced severe levels of acute food insecurity, especially in rural areas “due to low incomes and high vulnerability to external weather events.”

While 62% of the migrant or refugee population, 2.9 million people, suffered this phenomenon in Colombia, a country that migrants are forced to cross on their journey to the north of the region through the dangerous Darién jungle, the border natural with Panama.

In total, the Latin American and Caribbean population immersed in food crises stood at 26.5% in 2023, a percentage slightly lower than in 2022, when it was 27.3%, although the number of people increased to 19.7 million due to the inclusion in the list of residents in Colombia and migrants and refugees from Peru.

Haiti, the most affected and the situation improves in Central America

Haiti continues to be the country most affected by this phenomenon and the only one in the region immersed in a prolonged food crisis that in 2023 affected 4.9 million people, 49% of the total population, and experienced an increase of 166,000 people compared to 2022.

The reasons that the GNAFC gives for this situation to continue in the Caribbean country are “the persistent insecurity and gang violence, together with high food prices, poor economic activity and the reduction in agricultural production due to the extreme weather conditions”.

The countries in which more than a million people suffer a serious food crisis in the region are Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

However, the situation improved in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala or El Salvador, which experienced a “moderate decrease” in the number of people facing high levels of food insecurity, despite localized crop losses.

The effects of the migration crisis

The report independently analyzes the migrant populations of Ecuador and Peru, which between them total more than a million people affected by this phenomenon, and points out the difficulties in accessing stable employment and the extreme climatic conditions of phenomena such as El Child as main reasons.

In this sense, the GNAFC indicates that Latin America faces a “major displacement crisis” and estimates that 12 million people have been forced to emigrate “by force” in the region.

In 2023, Latin America experienced an unprecedented migration crisis, with hundreds of thousands of migrants who on their way to the United States border face extortion, robberies and rapes, with the uncertainty of not knowing if they will be able to reach their destination. , also paralyzed by an increase in restrictions.

In a more superficial way, the document mentions the situation in other countries such as Bolivia, Venezuela, and the populations residing in Peru and Ecuador, and agrees that the extreme meteorological conditions derived from phenomena such as El Niño influenced a slight worsening of the situation. .