Near the return to the Map of Hunger, Brazil lives 'shame' with 52 mi poor

Woman in a poor region of Brazil

Brazil has nothing to celebrate on Wednesday (17), when the World Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated. Wrapped in an economic crisis considered by experts as the most serious in history, the country sees the worsening of the living conditions of the most needy, only 5 years after leaving the Hunger Map.

According to analysts, although the latest report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has not put the country back on the Hunger Map - which was created in 1990 and shows countries with more than 5% of the world's food insecure population - , the dismantling of public policies associated with the crisis is already felt in national surveys.


"Social policy, even in the years 2003 to 2013, 2014, 2015, the policy of fighting poverty was not enough to actually institute mechanisms that would prevent the economic slowdown at the moment of on poverty was as dramatic as it is today, "said Lena Lavinas, PhD in Economics at the University of Paris and professor of Social Policy and Welfare Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

A recent survey produced by the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (Ibase) and the NGO ActionAid Brasil - based on data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) - showed that hunger today already reaches 11.7 million people in Brazil , which corresponds to 5.6% of Brazilians.

However, the IBGE itself - based on the Survey of Social Indicators - presented even worse numbers in December 2017. According to the institute, as early as 2016 approximately 13.4 million people were already living in extreme poverty in the country, reaching 6.5% of the total population.

A third study, produced by Tendências Consultoria, states that poverty has grown in 25 of the 27 Brazilian states in the last 4 years. If by 2014 the poverty was 3.2%, it rose to 4.8% last year, approaching the 5% that is the cut of a country to be included in the FAO Hunger Map.

Fits those living on less than US $ 1.90 per day, as defined by the World Bank. By this index, in 2016 the institution collected data that indicate a total of 52 million Brazilians living in such a calamitous situation.

The worsening shown by such indices and research is explained by the calvary that the country began to live mainly from 2015, with the stagnation of the economy, the increase of the unemployment and cuts in the investments of public policies of social assistance.

All of this bad economic situation that caused a fall in social indices was aggravated by austerity measures like the Ceiling of the Expenditure Ceiling, approved in 2016 and freezing investments in health and education for 20 years.


"We are seeing a Brazilian deconstruction, as well as the policies that were inaugurated that were not well consolidated and are already being dismantled," said Maria Emília Pacheco, a master in Social Anthropology from UFRJ and member of the Federation of Organs for Social Assistance and Educational (FASE).


child playing in a "degrading situation"

Children, women and blacks: the greatest victims

In its data released in December last year, the IBGE pointed out that 25.4% of Brazilians - which corresponds to a quarter of the population - live monthly with only 387 reais. The situation of extreme poverty victimizes mainly blacks, women and, especially, children up to 14 years old: 42 million (42.4%) of small Brazilians in this precarious condition.

Coupled with this, the increase in the country's infant mortality rate in 2016, after 26 years of continuous falls, is considered by experts as a symptomatic aspect of the worsening of poverty, as well as the rate of more than 13 million unemployed, according to National Survey by Household Sample Continuous (PNAD Continuous) of IBGE.

The poverty-stricken ones are also the most dependent on welfare programs, such as the Bolsa Família, which benefits families living with incomes of up to R $ 85 / month - this is the first track of the program, amplified by the governments of former presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) and Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016) from the merger of several previous aid and income transfer programs.

In addition to the Family Grant Program, the fight against poverty in Brazil gained from 2003 to 2014 with the valorization of the minimum wage, the Family Agriculture Strengthening Program (PRONAF), Food Acquisition (PAA), School Feeding (PNAE), cisterns, rural retirement and access to seeds and day-care centers.


According to economist Lena Lavinas, the country needs to look for ways to revise social policies to combat poverty, focusing on the effectiveness and priority given to such programs, especially in times of crisis such as the current one. It was precisely the lack of support for such actions that "Achilles' heel" of the gains made in PT management and now partially lost.

"This tragedy that we live today of having 52 million people living below the poverty line is a shame for a middle-income country like Brazil that has a social protection system that, if respected, would be able to guarantee and mitigate this level of deprivation, "she added.

The point of view is shared by Alan Bojanic, FAO representative in Brazil.

"Today, Brazil is a reference country in public policies to combat hunger, but in order to continue on the right track and reach the goal by 2030, it is necessary that investments in public policies focused on the most vulnerable populations continue to take place effectively "he said in a statement released by the United Nations.

The agricultural paradox

In its guidelines, the FAO states that "investment in agriculture is more effective in reducing poverty, particularly among the poorest people, than investing in non-agricultural sectors." In Brazil, the production of wealth in the countryside is not a problem: in 2017, a quarter of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - 1.65 trillion reais - came from agribusiness.

However, being one of the world's top 3 food producers and exporters is not enough to prevent the growth of poverty and hunger in the country. Even with a record harvest last year, more than 65 million Brazilians feed themselves precariously, that is, they do not ingest the minimum daily amount of calories.


Northeastern people were great beneficiaries of social welfare, and today they suffer from setbacks in the area.
According to the anthropologist Maria Emília Pacheco, family agriculture needs greater investments and care from the government, especially if it is considered the predilection by the Ministry of Agriculture for the major benefits to large producers of monocultures - a misconception, she said.

"Perhaps for the first time in Brazil's history we are seeing a group of organizations such as Fiocruz, the National Cancer Institute, warning about the negative impact of this monoculture-based agriculture model.That is the problem: it has often been said that Brazil is the breadbasket of the world, which has a high productivity, but no one speaks of the environmental and social costs of this, and this economic evaluation is mistaken because it is essentially restrictive, "he pointed out, defending agroecology, which associates agriculture, diversity and protection of biomes.

The head of the FAO, the Brazilian José Graziano da Silva, shares the same opinion of the anthropologist. "Family farming is fundamental to sustainable development in many respects, including the eradication of poverty, hunger and all forms of malnutrition, as well as the preservation of natural resources and biodiversity," he said at a ministerial meeting on family agriculture. Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).


The Brazilian government itself recognizes the importance of this. According to the most recent Agricultural Census, family agriculture accounts for 90% of the economy of cities of the country with up to 20 thousand inhabitants. And it is not only: it is the basis of the income of 70% of Brazilians who work in the countryside and 40% of the economically active population of Brazil.

Associated with the discussion around monocultures and the importance of family agriculture, rural violence and agrarian disputes also have an impact on hunger and the fight against poverty in the country. Graziano always emphasizes that "violence and conflict are the main cause of hunger in the world today."

"There is a new relationship between peace and food security. Every time we see food insecurity increase due to wars, especially the impact of climate change, drought especially, the number of people [who are hungry] also increases" , summed up in a recent UN statement.


Eradicating poverty and hunger is one of the 8 central goals of this millennium, according to an agreement reached by 193 UN member states in 2000, with the support of several international organizations. After 18 years of success, we see that the path in this direction is still long and uncertain.