Flavia Lucio Pereira de Paula | Summer 2017
Major research paper presented to The University of Guelph
Advisor: Gordana Yovanovich
Baixe aqui o documento “The Zero Hunger Program in Brazil, an in-depth analysis and new challenges“
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), there were 19.9 million hungry people in Brazil from 2000 to 2002. This number was reduced to 10 million by 2014, out of a population of approximately 200 million. The figure of 10 million represents less than 5% of the total population. Currently, around 7 million Brazilians are hungry, representing 3.5% of the population. The statistical decline in hunger has been attributed to governmental social actions implemented in Brazil since 2003, under a strategy called the Zero Hunger program.
A short documentary titled Zero Hunger: Brazil’s Dream, launched in 2012 by the FAO, outlines the government’s goals at the outset and what the plan has accomplished. The documentary begins by illustrating the implementation of the pilot project in the remote, arid area of Guaribas, Piauí, and how the strategy evolved and succeeded in that region. The remote arid areas in the northeast suffer the most from hunger due to a lack of potable water, which prevents communities from growing nutritious food locally and leads to diseases causing malnutrition. The documentary also describes nationwide actions implemented following the success of the pilot project. These actions included targeted measures for urban centers aimed at reducing hunger among urban poor communities, considering their limited living space and inability to grow individual family gardens, as well as the differing lifestyles in urban settings.
According to the documentary, in rural settings, priorities included improving access to fresh water in arid regions, enhancing adult literacy levels to facilitate labor market access, assessing the nutritional status of children under five, establishing food production cooperatives, providing loans for food production initiatives, and improving food access in remote areas. In urban settings, actions included creating community kitchens, community gardens, and food banks. In both rural and urban environments, school nutrition programs were improved. The initiatives proposed by the strategy primarily focused on improving Brazil’s social determinants of health, such as reducing income inequality, addressing low literacy levels, and ensuring access to basic needs like adequate employment, which were obstacles to reducing or eliminating hunger.
The initial intent of the program was to urgently address the lack of access to food and thereby reduce hunger. The results of these emergency actions were very satisfactory, according to national data collected in the first year of the program’s implementation in 2003 and comparative data from eleven years later. According to the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), the official government organization responsible for population data and the census in Brazil, there was a decline of 82% in hunger, with 7.2 million people hungry by 2014. This reduction took Brazil off the global hunger map.
Another important study, called Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD, or National Research of Household Samples), conducted in 2004 and 2009, compared levels of food security in Brazilian households during these periods. The study showed that some families had daily access to food, but the food did not provide enough calories for all family members. An analysis of this data is available on the IBGE website. According to this report, in 2004, 34.9% of households faced some level of difficulty accessing food, while this number dropped to 30.2% in 2009 (IBGE, PNAD, Segurança Alimentar 2004/2009:33). The nearly 5% decrease in food insecurity levels may be linked to Zero Hunger policies aimed at improving food access.
Hunger is a global problem, and Brazil’s efforts in 2003 sought to find ways to address this complex issue. It is important to remember that the general definition of hunger considers only the lack of food to meet someone’s energy needs, without accounting for food quality. One purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of considering not just the quantity but also the quality of food consumed. Since the mid-20th century, the concept of hunger in Brazil has expanded to include a lack of micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and amino acids (Castro 1952:X). This shift resulted from research by renowned Brazilian doctor Josué de Castro, who attempted to create a hunger map of Brazil. Castro demonstrated that eating behaviors varied across different regions, leading to distinct patterns of nutritional deficiencies or excesses. More than 50 years ago, he highlighted that inadequate eating habits contributed to malnutrition, beyond just insufficient caloric intake. Those working to eliminate hunger must incorporate the concept of malnutrition when developing policies. Malnutrition, or “hidden hunger,” can occur when people have enough food, but the quality is poor. Unequal food distribution is another significant factor in hunger.
It is crucial to note that Brazil’s hunger problem was not caused by insufficient food production but by unequal access, which is also true in many other countries. Thus, Brazil serves as an example. Malnutrition and hidden hunger are often associated with insufficient energy or nutrient intake but can also result from excessive consumption, affecting individuals’ nutritional status. In contemporary Brazilian society, both scenarios coexist, with overweight and undernourished individuals often found in the same family. This phenomenon, known as the “double burden of malnutrition,” arises from the nutrition transition.
The nutrition transition represents a significant challenge for the Brazilian government and civil society. While the decline in hunger was an important achievement, the current challenge lies in addressing nutrition transition amidst rising overweight and obesity rates. The documentary Globesity: Fat’s New Frontier, released in 2012, examines how unhealthy, processed foods dominate diets in developing countries, affecting their populations’ health. It highlights the impact of globalization on eating habits in countries like China, Mexico, Brazil, and India. According to the documentary, emerging countries are particularly affected by globalization, with the food industry heavily investing in these regions. By 2010, over 50% of Brazil’s population—more than 100 million people—were overweight or obese. Treating obesity-related problems costs Brazil approximately 8 billion US dollars annually.
The documentary suggests increasing food taxation and regulating the food market as potential solutions while urging populations and governments to find ways to improve health. The title Globesity merges “globalization” and “obesity,” emphasizing that solutions must address the impact of globalization on Brazil’s nutrition transition and similar issues in other countries.
This paper will provide a comprehensive analysis of the Zero Hunger strategy, recognizing actions that improved nutritional status and exploring new challenges related to the rapid increase in overweight and obesity, primarily influenced by globalization. The study aims to highlight the program’s successes in reducing malnutrition and the need for policies addressing the effects of globalization on Brazilian eating habits.
Baixe aqui o documento “The Zero Hunger Program in Brazil, an in-depth analysis and new challenges“
