Half Of Brazilians Experience Food Insecurity Despite Bumper Agricultural Harvests - Study

Half of Brazilians Experience Food Insecurity Despite Bumper Agricultural Harvests - Study

Over 125 million Brazilians suffered from food insecurity during the pandemic despite the country's agriculture industry demonstrating a record growth rate, a study jointly conducted by Free University of Berlin, the University of Brasilia and the Federal University of Minas Gerais, revealed

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2021) Over 125 million Brazilians suffered from food insecurity during the pandemic despite the country's agriculture industry demonstrating a record growth rate, a study jointly conducted by Free University of Berlin, the University of Brasilia and the Federal University of Minas Gerais, revealed.

"The results show that 59% of the inquired households are in a situation of food insecurity during the pandemic, and that a significant part of the respondents reduced the consumption of food items important for their regular diets; 44% reduced meat and 41% reduced fruit consumption," the study found.

Some 7.5 million Brazilians in 2020 could only afford to eat once a day, a 50% increase compared to 2016.

Increased food insecurity reflects the general social inequality and regional development disparity in the country, the study says.

"We confirmed that in northern and northeastern parts of the country where the level of revenues and employment rate are most alarming, the level of food insecurity is higher, as well as among black and mixed race people. This proves that the phenomenon of food insecurity reflects a more pronounced phenomenon of social inequality and also regional inequality," Nilson Maciel de Paula, member of Rede Penssan, Brazilian food security research center, told Sputnik.

Meanwhile, the agriculture sector was the only industry to show positive dynamic in 2020, with a record growth of 24.31%, accounting for 26.6% of Brazil's GDP. Brazil is the second largest exporter of food in the world, according to the World Trade Organization.

On August 9, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro submitted to the Chamber of Deputies a plan of the new social program Auxilio Brasil to substitute the Bolsa Familia, long-standing cash handout program to households, introduced by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva back in 2003, to reduce inequality, poverty and hunger. The new social program will offer 50% more benefits to the households and will cover 16 million citizens.