Archive for category: Food Insecurity

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Supporting Refugees During Ramadan

Supporting Refugees During RamadanRamadan is the holiest month of the year for Muslims globally. During this month, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset every day for 30 days as an act of worship, a way to practice self-discipline and a period to empathize with the needy and less privileged. Every evening in the holy month, Muslims break their fast with a meal known as ‘iftar’.

Apart from being a fast-breaking meal, iftar plays a vital role in balancing health and nutrition. Unfortunately, in a world where 11.7% of the entire global population experiences extreme food insecurity, millions of Muslims often have no food to break their fast with. Food insecurity is a major issue affecting refugees and displaced people who rely on donations and aid to access food. In a bid to alleviate the issue, charities like Restless Beings are supporting refugees during Ramadan by providing them with iftar meals.

Restless Beings is a U.K.-based human rights organization that is making efforts to address food insecurity during Ramadan. Through distributing food packages in nations with high numbers of refugees and displaced people, such as Syria and Bangladesh, it provides iftar meals for Muslims around the world.

The Borgen Project spoke with one of the directors of Restless Beings, Rahima Begum, to find out more about the organization’s food packages and other ongoing efforts aimed at supporting refugees during Ramadan.

Food Packages

In 2023, Restless Beings is distributing food packages in Gaza, Turkey, Syria and the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. The content of the food packages varies for each nation depending on dietary requirements and cultural sensitivities. According to Rahima Begum, “As Restless Beings is a highly consultative organization, we ensure that at all stages, we speak to the community about their needs and what they want in their food packs.”

For example, the packages for refugees in Bangladesh include food items such as rice, chickpeas, lentils, vitamin supplements, oil, onions and seasonings. These are all staple items in a typical Bangladeshi diet. In Gaza and Syria, the packages include tea, pasta, beans, feta cheese, dates and bulgar. The Turkish food packages include most of the aforementioned as well as olives, tahini and ingredients for making traditional Turkish bread. Each food package contains enough to feed a family for at least one month.

The food packages are distributed by the organization’s on-the-ground teams. As of April 2023, Restless Beings has provided food packages and other forms of assistance to over 50,000 refugees globally.

Feeding Refugees in the UK

For Restless Beings, supporting refugees during Ramadan in the U.K. is just as important as supporting refugees abroad. It partners with other organizations that specialize in assisting refugees and migrants arriving in the U.K. to provide occasional free, warm iftar meals throughout Ramadan. It also donates baked snacks, including bread and pastries, which refugees can take away. The service is not exclusive to only Muslims, as Restless Beings is committed to helping refugees from all religious and cultural backgrounds. The organization is affiliated with two food banks in East London, both of which provide free or discounted food to the homeless and those affected by extreme food insecurity.

Gifting Presents and Haircuts

Restless Beings is supporting refugees during Ramadan in ways other than providing food. It also aims to restore joy and hope in the lives of refugee children. Many of the children that Restless Beings works with have witnessed extreme violence and experienced severe political conflict and displacement. This has stripped them of their fundamental human right to safety and deprived them of their childhood.

The organization is making efforts to give children something to look forward to while encouraging them to believe that there is hope for a better future. It gifts children in the Rohingya refugee camps hampers, new clothes, shoes and fresh haircuts to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the day that follows the end of Ramadan. For Rahima Begum, the gifting service is of utmost importance because it bestows a sense of normalcy and dignity on the recipients that aids their emotional healing. She says “When a child is reminded of their dignity and given an opportunity to feel and look fresh… this child feels like they are seen, heard and most of all, valued.”

Concluding Thoughts

Through their work in supporting refugees during Ramadan, Restless Beings is addressing global food insecurity and bringing nourishment and familiarity to affected people. A Muslim herself, Rahima reflects that “feeding a fasting person is a blessed action” and doing so provides her with the opportunity to ensure Muslims less fortunate than herself can “observe the religious duties that [she is] personally adhering to, in the most comfortable way possible.”

– Mohsina Alam.
Photo: Flickr

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Hunger and Food Systems in North Korea

Food Systems in North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened an emergency meeting to discuss agriculture in February 2023, as the country faces growing concerns about food insecurity. Kim only holds these meetings once or twice a year, but it had only been two months since the previous one. Though the regime refutes such claims, the recurrent meetings may point to pressing circumstances concerning the food systems in North Korea.

Persistent Effects of a Devastating 1990s Famine

A famine in the mid-1990s killed more than 3% of the population. The effects of this famine still persist within food systems in North Korea today. Additionally, according to media reports, the situation has only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the enforcement of more border closures. The regime resorted to reserving available resources for only military developments.

North Korea also suffers from a lack of agricultural infrastructure, including fuel and fertilizers, which have become more expensive as a result of the pandemic. Chemical fertilizers, especially, appear to be in shortage in the country as the sowing season approaches.

In December 2022, the South Korean development agency estimated a 3.8% decrease in the North’s crop production since 2021. The South’s Unification Ministry commented on the current food crisis as “seemed to have deteriorated,” although North Korea’s regime refuses any claims that infer its incapacity to provide enough food for the population. 

The country’s lack of arable land is partly responsible for its food insecurity crisis. The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC reports that only 20% of the land appears to be suitable for agricultural production. The extreme weather and constant flooding may have also destroyed some of the existing plantations.

International Humanitarian Aid in North Korea

Despite the food insecurity problem in North Korea, the country’s regime refuses international aid. A local newspaper Rodong Sinmun even described foreign aid as “poisoned candy.” However, China, a long-standing ally, has agreed to restart a small portion of railway transport of various goods, including medicine, fertilizers and food between the two countries. One of North Korea’s only options is to restart the whole railway trade, but the Chinese government seems reluctant.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the living conditions of North Koreans appear to have worsened significantly. The economic isolation greatly limits the chances of international humanitarian aid, and the border closures have only affected the country negatively. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), North Korea only accepted about $2.3 million in aid from international organizations in 2022. Most of the aid came from European countries, with $1.6 million from Switzerland, $510,000 and $200,000 from the Swedish and Norwegian Red Cross respectively.

Hope for Economic Relief in North Korea

The hope for the current food systems in North Korea lies in lifting the economic sanctions imposed on the country. Ongoing tensions between North Korea and the U.S., along with its allies, are due to the country’s possession of nuclear weapons and political clashes. The dissolution of this tension could partially address the country’s food insecurity. If North Korea can trade with countries other than China and Russia, it would have access to resources that could solve some of the problems related to food scarcity, although the country has shown no such effort.

Organizations like Liberty in North Korea and World Food Programme (WFP) are working towards helping the country’s population through various initiatives. For example, WFP is operating the DPRK Interim Country Strategic Plan (2019-2023) that proposed a plan to improve nutrition for children under 7 years of age, pregnant and lactating women and tuberculosis patients by 2025. While it is difficult to predict the outcome at this stage, sustained humanitarian assistance in North Korea can lead to positive outcomes.

– Amber Kim
Photo: Flickr

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Addressing Hunger in Pakistan

hunger in Pakistan
According to the 2022 Global Hunger Index, the country of Pakistan ranks 99 out of 121 countries. With hunger in Pakistan’s score at 26.1 out of 50 on the index, the issue in the country is ranked as “serious.” The problem itself is due to a combination of factors. One is the devastating 2022 summer floods. A second is the current economic crises that are severely affecting the Pakistani government’s ability to manage food scarcity.

Hunger and Food Insecurity Across the Population

Almost 17% of Pakistan’s population is undernourished. Children are among the most greatly affected. Almost 40% of children under five suffer from “stunting” or have low height for their age due to undernourishment. “Child wasting” affects seven percent of children under five. This means that they are below the average weight for their age because of severe undernourishment. Finally, child mortality (children who die before age five) is a startling 6.5%.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), a survey from 2018 showed that 36.9% of the population faces food insecurity. Women are especially at risk as among the most vulnerable and economically challenged portion of the population. Moreover, due to cultural and social taboos, many women find it difficult to access humanitarian services and aid. In addition, the World Food Programme found a direct link between girls’ level of education and all forms of undernutrition.

Flooding and Hunger

The devastating floods of the summer of 2022 further destabilized Pakistan’s rising inflation and poor economic situation. Pakistani government officials stated that the floods destroyed almost 80% of crops. This staggering number has major ramifications for a country where an average household spends around 50% of its income on food. Also, the State Bank of Pakistan proclaimed that foreign reserves fell to $4.3 billion. That is barely enough to buy three weeks of imports. Finally, even with pledges of $10 billion from the international community to help Pakistan’s recovery, supply chain shortages in everything from medical supplies to soybeans keep prices high and the people suffering.

Wheat is a staple food in the diet of an average Pakistani. The prices of wheat have skyrocketed, partly because of a decrease in wheat from Ukraine due to the war there. Wheat and flour are so scarce in some parts of Pakistan that armed police have to guard distribution trucks. At one point, desperation led people to stampede the trucks and the stampede led to the death of a person. Furthermore, food prices in the country rose almost 36% in December 2022, compared to 31% in November.

Support from Humanitarian Organizations

To combat these difficult challenges, organizations that fight hunger such as Action Against Hunger and Islamic Relief are comprehensively tackling hunger in Pakistan. In the province of Sindh, Action Against Hunger promotes kitchen gardening and supports farmers to grow crops that are resistant to changing weather patterns. The organization also provides communities with knowledge and information on new techniques to grow vegetables. Finally, it provides households with young children with goats and poultry. Action Against Hunger aid reached more than 2 million people last year.

Islamic Relief supported more than 1 million people in the aftermath of the floods. It provided communities with 40,000 liters of daily clean drinking water, 123 water tanks, 11,667 food packs and 7476 winter kits.

The challenges are very much present, but organizations are working alongside the government to implement new initiatives to eliminate hunger in Pakistan.

– Saad Ul Haque
Photo: Flickr

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Insect Farming to Reduce Food Insecurity

Insect Farming to Reduce Food Insecurity
InsectiPro is a Kenyan company that engages in insect farming to reduce food insecurity in Africa. With growing populations in Africa comes an increasing demand for food sources, but the current food supply outweighs the demand. The 2022 Global Report on Food Crises 2022 Mid-Year Update highlights that, at minimum, one in five people in Africa ends the day without meeting their food needs and about 140 million individuals in Africa endure acute levels of food insecurity. InsectiPro is creating “sustainable, nutritious and profitable systems” with its unique solution to food poverty. The company focuses on achieving four of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an aim to end poverty and inequality: dissolving hunger and malnutrition (SDG 2), “industry and innovation” (SDG 9), “responsible consumption and production” (SDG 12) and engaging in partnerships (SDG 17).

The Work of InsectiPro

InsectiPro farms black soldier flies and crickets on a large, commercial scale, ensuring there is a bulk supply of a nutritious food source for people in Kenya. This is important work considering the World Bank’s report in 2020 that 26.1% of Kenya’s population suffers from severe levels of food insecurity. In Kenya, locally sourced meat and fish are expensive, especially for impoverished families. Instead of getting rid of insects that farmers often find on their lands, these insects could be used as an alternative food source. InsectiPro looks to “make insect consumption widely accepted,” The Index Project says.

How Does InsectiPro Operate?

The company grows crickets in “stackable crates,” which maximizes farming space as opposed to utilizing spans of farmland. An adult female cricket can lay as many as 100 eggs each day, and since they prefer to lay their eggs in damp, warm areas, the crates that InsectiPro uses provide an ideal breeding environment. Once 10 days pass, the InsectiPro team transfers crickets to feeding trays, where they remain for a further five weeks. Then, the crickets are “harvested, frozen, thawed and baked,” How we made it in Africa reports. The company currently offers three types of cricket products — porridge, a powder and a crunchy snack.

Insects as a Food Source

Crickets are a very valuable food source due to their protein-rich nature and essential amino acid content. Studies indicate that crickets may contain up to 73% of protein. The fact that crickets contain up to three more complete proteins compared to a piece of beef of the same weight and provide higher levels of iron, vitamins and fiber illustrates their nutritional value.

Black soldier flies are also high in protein and can stand as a sustainable food option. Farming insects to reduce food insecurity also has the potential to address protein deficiencies that could manifest in malnutrition and life-threatening conditions, such as kwashiorkor and marasmus. Therefore, in the aim to make nations in Africa more food secure and healthy, plentiful supplies of protein in the form of crickets have significant potential.

Plans for the Future

InsectiPro currently works in Kenya, but the company has already received requests to export its goods to other nations. The practice of growing insects in Africa is becoming more and more prominent because of its vast benefits. The company has received a certificate from the local bureau of standards and is also focusing its attention on regional markets. InsectiPro has plans to expand to Uganda in 2023 and Rwanda in 2024 but says it will stick to farming the insects commonly consumed in those areas, namely, grasshoppers.

Insect farming to reduce food insecurity is a revolutionary idea that could become more popular in the near future. Addressing food insecurity is a vital part of tackling poverty and the unique work of InsectiPro is a positive step in the right direction.

– Ruby Wallace
Photo: Flickr

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Addressing Food Insecurity in Africa

Food Insecurity in Africa
Thirty-four African leaders met between 25-27 January 2023 in Senegal to address worsening food insecurity in Africa. The president of Senegal and the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, jointly hosted the gathering, called the Dakar 2 – Africa Food Summit. Adesina announced that the AfDB would be dedicating $10 billion worth of funding over the next five years to reduce food insecurity on the African continent.

The Magnitude of Food Insecurity

According to the report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022,” an annual assessment that several U.N. partners compiled, the global effort to reduce extreme hunger and food insecurity “is moving backward.” One can attribute this to conflicts, changing weather patterns, economic shocks and the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a disconnect between agricultural policies and expected outcomes.

In Africa, food insecurity has been endemic, but it has worsened in recent times. The backward movement in the global effort to reduce the prevalence, which the report underscored, is graphically illustrated through statistics. For instance, the number of persons facing hunger on the African continent stood at 187.4 million in 2015.

In 2021, the number of individuals experiencing hunger rose to 278 million, or 20.2%, the highest rate of hunger across the world. In Africa, almost 58% of the population is enduring moderate to severe food insecurity. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that, in Africa, these numbers will worsen and, by 2030, the African continent will hold the highest burden of undernourished individuals.

The AfDB commitment and the declarations of leaders during the Dakar 2 – Africa Food Summit underscore the gravity of the issue. Additionally, this is a positive development, indicating a determination to own the problem and address it, boldly.

Currently, due to budget constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dwindling prices of commodities, “slow disbursement of funds,” heavy reliance on donor funds and lack of political will, African countries are unable to direct sufficient capital toward addressing food insecurity in Africa. Indeed, many African countries have not reached the goal of the Maputo Declaration, developed in 2003, to “allocate at least 10% of their national budget to food and agriculture.” The Dakar 2 – Africa Food Summit recognizes the severity of the issue and demonstrates a renewed political will to address food insecurity in Africa.

The Vision

At the end of the Dakar 2 – Africa Food Summit, African leaders acknowledged that with 65% of the world’s uncultivated land in Africa, the continent has the potential to become self-sufficient in food production. In fact, Africa has the potential to become the food basket of the world by 2030. The leaders, therefore, agreed to support the process of boosting agricultural production on the continent with strong political will in cooperation with development partners to ensure food sustainability in Africa.

Implementation

The Dakar 2 – Africa Food Summit, with the sub-theme Food Sovereignty and Resilience, set out strategies for the implementation of the leaders’ visions. The Country Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts developed at this summit “convey the vision, challenges and opportunities in agricultural productivity, infrastructure, processing and value addition, markets and financing that will accelerate the implementation of the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).”

Some of these strategies include:

  • Develop Presidential Delivery Councils to supervise the implementation of agricultural programs in each country.
  • “Mobilize internal and external financing” for food and agriculture programs.
  • Expand funding from national budgets to support these food security objectives.

Looking Ahead

The response of the African Development Bank in collaboration with African leaders to address food insecurity in Africa is certainly a welcomed development. Leaders agree that it does not make sense for Africa to hold both 65% of the world’s arable land and the highest number of food-insecure individuals. The collaborative strategies of global leaders have the potential to lift a significant number of Africans out of poverty.

– Friday Okai
Photo: Flickr

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Drought-Resistant Grains Boost Food Production in Zimbabwe

Food Production in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe, a landlocked country in south-eastern Africa, frequently suffers from the effects of seasonal droughts. For example, during the 2019 agricultural season, Zimbabwe endured a particularly devastating drought resulting in more than 5 million rural Zimbabweans experiencing food insecurity and nearly 4 million requiring food assistance. On top of issues of food insecurity that lower yields caused, Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate rose to rates above 190% in June 2021, resulting in a higher overall cost of living throughout the country. Additionally, the price of maize has risen by more than 50% since the beginning of 2021. Luckily, drought-resistant grains are boosting food production in Zimbabwe.

How the Zimbabwean Government is Assisting Farmers

To solve the problem of lower yield due to maize not being able to withstand drought conditions, the Zimbabwean government has begun assisting farmers in the transition to farming smaller drought-resistant grains like sorghum and millet. This transition has resulted in food production increases in Zimbabwe, though it has not been easy for many farmers, as these smaller grains require more work to keep up. The small-grain crops attract birds, making a protection system essential to guard their crops. Moreover, when harvested, small-grain crops require more labor-intensive processing. Additionally, because the farmers have stopped farming as much maize, they have subsequently become unable to produce the corn necessary to make many staple Zimbabwean foods.

Responsive Drip Irrigation

Responsive Drip Irrigation is aiding farmers with an innovative irrigation system that helps crop production in drought conditions. It developed an irrigation system that reacts to the crops’ chemicals to determine when the plants need water. Of course, innovative technology such as Responsive Drip Irrigation is expensive and therefore difficult to make available to many Zimbabwean farmers. Nevertheless, in August 2021, Responsive Drip Irrigation began working with smallholder farms to help encourage food production increases in Zimbabwe.

The CAWEP Program

Additionally, in December 2022, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced the implementation of a new three-year initiative to make water more accessible throughout rural Zimbabwe. The CAWEP program allocated $14.8 million to increase access to water for various household uses, improve access to clean and affordable energy, and refurbish current irrigation systems. CAWEP should eventually connect as many as 12,500 people to electricity, assist 150,000 people with accessing water and establish more than 100 hectares of land as workable agricultural property. By making water more accessible to these rural Zimbabwean farmers, the UNDP hopes to increase food production in Zimbabwe.

The World Food Programme (WFP)

Finally, the World Food Programme (WFP) has also worked to provide support for rural Zimbabwean farmers in the face of probable climate shocks such as prevalent droughts. as of November 2022, the WFP has provided nearly 10,000 metric tons of food, more than $420,000 worth of cash-based transfers and has reached close to 500,000 people with these cash transfers. As of December 2022, the WFP provided more than 550,000 people with emergency food assistance.

The Road Ahead

Though frequently facing the brunt of powerful droughts and an ever-growing inflation rate, food production is slowly increasing in Zimbabwe as farmers shift to more sustainable crops and receive help from humanitarian organizations such as the WFP and the UNDP.

– Chris Dickinson
Photo: Flickr

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Ways To Address World Hunger in 2023

Ways To Address World Hunger
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to profoundly impact economies worldwide, with rising food prices and high supply chain shortages exacerbating global hunger. Africa is feeling the heaviest effects. Ukraine is one of the largest producers of wheat. Russia’s introduction of a naval blockade and attacks on the country’s energy grid resulted in a reduction in wheat exports from 5 to 7 million tons per month before the war to 3.5 million tons per month between March and November 2022. More than 345 million people are feeling the impact of the global food crisis, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlights that more than 48 countries that the global food crisis affected will require more than $4.1 billion in aid in 2023. However, there are initiatives and methods to help alleviate and provide solutions to address world hunger.

United Nations Year of Millets

The initiative began in 2021, a year before Russia invaded Ukraine, which caused an unprecedented global food crisis. Before expanding on the goals and outcomes the initiative hopes to achieve, it is essential to discuss what millets are and what are the ways to address world hunger in 2023. Millets are grains that come from small seed grasses and many around the world grow them in abundance. People have been consuming millet for more than 7,000 years and they are important in terms of contributing to multi-crop agriculture and establishing farming societies.

Developing countries like India, Niger and Nigeria (more than 97%) heavily produce millet and they continue to be a stable form of the crop in these regions today, Impakter reports. This is because millet can survive droughts and other environmental challenges, making it a sustainable form of nutrition. Furthermore, the efforts required to grow the crops are minimal as they are highly adaptable in the soils they grow in, be they poor or fertile. As a source of nutrition, millets have high protein, minerals, fiber and iron and are gluten-free. Therefore, these grains are an excellent source to help countries “increase self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on imported cereal grains,” according to Impakter.

Karnataka, India officially adopted the United Nations Year of Millets. Millet grows in abundance there and India spearheads the initiative. The primary objective of Year of Millets consists of generating international awareness of millets which will ultimately result in a solution to the global food crisis because millets not only have the ability to grow in adverse environments and are sources of high nutrition but they also are sources of new sustainable market opportunities. The greater generation of international awareness of millet could solve world hunger in 2023 or be a step towards solving world hunger.

Immediate International Action

Another one of the ways to address world hunger is through more significant international involvement and efforts to help generate a financial cushion to support initiatives that tackle the food crisis and ensure that there are alternatives in place to ensure food security. Organizations like WFP and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) also require adequate global funding to operate efficiently to help address world hunger and generate awareness regarding the consequences of food insecurity. Furthermore, organizations that conduct their programs in countries experiencing extreme food insecurity require a stable source of funding from donors and international organizations through grants and concessional financing to operate programs such as cash assistance programs for people that the global food crisis affected.

A way to address world hunger in 2023 is through a calculated and organized approach which people can achieve through international awareness and engagement to ensure maximized efficiency of the efforts and effective use of the resources to help address the global food crisis.

In addition, the IMF mentions that even with international support, more significant efforts are necessary to help address the global food crisis and hopefully address world hunger. This means aiming financing at the most vulnerable sections of populations suffering from the food crisis. The funding should come through humanitarian aid, grants and long-term concessional financing, according to IMF Notes. Furthermore, the IMF views debt financing as an exemplary method for addressing the food crisis. It will ensure that people can use the funds to spend on food and other necessities.

Nutrition the Way to Save Lives

According to the WFP’s Global Operational Response Plan, “prioritizing the nutrition of pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under 5 is key to saving lives and building resilient communities and economies.” This is because, statistically, the global food crisis is one of the most significant threats to children under 5, constituting one-fifth of children out of 60 million. In addition, children under 5 who suffer from acute and chronic malnutrition are at greater risk of death.

The WFP’s approach to addressing global food takes a targeted approach that can provide fruitful results in addressing world hunger in 2023. Therefore, the World Food Programme highlights that one of the ways to address world hunger in 2023 is the prioritization of nutrition for women and children under the age of 5 suffering from global food insecurity because access to nutritious diets is scarce.

To achieve this, Specialized Nutritious Foods (SNFs) are necessary in ensuring the proper nourishment of women and children. SNFs “help prevent and treat malnutrition and reduce mortality among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women by improving nutrient adequacy, strengthening immune systems and enabling proper weight gain.” Despite the high demand and prices for SNFs because of the war in Ukraine, the World Food Programme continues to tackle food insecurity and malnutrition at its core.

Addressing world hunger in 2023 along with rising inflation and greater demand for food appears complicated due to the disruption of global supply chains due to the war in Ukraine, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and environmental challenges. However, greater international cooperation between nonprofit organizations like the WFP, the IMF and the United Nations, alongside their partners and the international community, will make it possible to address world hunger in 2023.

– Arijit Joshi
Photo: Flickr

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Inflation in Brazil: Addressing Food Insecurity in Brazil

Food Insecurity in Brazil
Despite being the third largest exporter of agricultural commodities, Brazil is now suffering a food crisis caused by inflation. In 2022, inflation triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine exacerbated hunger in Brazil. The inflation rate in Brazil stood at 13.9% in the middle of 2022, according to the World Bank. According to a Brazilian press article by correspondent Anne Vigna in June 2022, 33.1 million Brazilians endure hunger and 30% of families are at risk of food shortages. Furthermore, the sanctions against Russia have affected the supply of fertilizers, which are essential to Brazilian agriculture and food production. When vital products are restricted and the exports-imports are reduced, the prices go up. Social Good Brazil and the World Food Programme (WFP) Centre of Excellence are committed to addressing food insecurity in Brazil.

“Regarding inflation [in Brazil], consumer prices remain high, with increases spread among several components and continue to be more persistent than anticipated. Over the 12-month period ended in July [2022], consumer inflation reached 10.1%,” said Central Bank of Brazil Governor Roberto Campos Neto in an interview with Global Finance on September 27, 2022.

Inflation in Brazil: Food Shortage

“Hiking prices lead to loss of purchasing power of households and food insecurity. In Brazil, the costs of food increased by 13.43[%] in the 12 months to August 2022,” the World Bank reports. In 2022, severe food insecurity in Brazil stood at 9%, but in 2022, severe food insecurity has risen to 15.5%.

According to Campos Neto, “disruptions in supply chains generated by COVID-19 and in energy and food markets caused by the war in Ukraine, may lead to higher or more persistent inflation and more aggressive monetary policy tightening in major economies.” Campos Neto explains that long periods of high inflation may put countries at risk of economic deceleration.

Brazil is responsible for 8% of fertilizer consumption worldwide and is the “world’s fourth-largest fertilizer importer,” according to Farmdocdaily. Roughly one-fifth of these imports come from Russia. As a result of sanctions applied against Russia, Brazil now suffers from a lack of fertilizers, such as phosphorous and nitrogen, which are essential for crops. According to an article by Brazilian journalist Julio Bravo in May 2022, the cost of fertilizer per ton rose rapidly from $231.05 to $524.42 in only 12 months.

Impact on the Poor

Increased prices of goods reduce the purchasing power of low-income families and raise food insecurity while increasing rates of poverty. The national report “Olhe para a fome,” created by Rede Penssan (The Brazilian Network of Research on Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security) and partners, gathered data between November 2021 and April 2022 that presents a grim situation. According to the report, in 2022, 33.1 million Brazilians face severe levels of food insecurity, which equates to 15.5% of the population. The second National Study on Food Insecurity in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil showed that 58.7% of Brazilians suffer from some level of food insecurity in 2022.

During the peak of the pandemic, local supermarkets in Brazil began to sell animal bones and leftovers to people in desperate need of food. Some people had to scrummage in supermarket rubbish bins in search of discarded food. Brazilian Sandra Maria de Freitas told BBC News Brazil in 2022: “I wake up at 4 a.m. every day, take my handcart and come to wait for the rubbish truck at this same place… where I live.”

Fighting Against Hunger

The World Food Programme (WFP) Centre of Excellence came about as a partnership developed in 2011 between the Brazilian government and the WFP to address hunger in several countries, including Brazil. The Center of Excellence focuses on school feeding programs, research, working with smallholder farmers and more.

In terms of the WFP’s school feeding initiatives, in 2020, a total of “15 million schoolchildren received nutritious meals and snacks from WFP.” Providing support to 65 countries’ school feeding programs, WFP helped another 39 million children with nutritional support.

Social Good Brazil is an NGO that raises funds via a crowdfunding U.S. platform called GlobalGiving. Social Good Brazil raised $1,108 for the project called Fight Hunger in Brazil Using Food Waste. In essence, the project aimed to reduce food waste by redistributing wasted but good food to fulfill the food and nutrition needs of vulnerable citizens. The project has the potential of helping 52 million Brazilians suffering from food insecurity.

Despite the struggle against inflation, organizations are stepping up to continue the fight against food insecurity in Brazil.

– Olga Petrovska
Photo: Flickr

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How Food Insecurity in Sri Lanka Impacts Women and Children

Food Insecurity in Sri Lanka
Food insecurity in Sri Lanka has increased amid the country’s economic crisis, with disproportionate impacts on women and children. The World Bank says the poverty rate in Sri Lanka is 25.6% (based on the poverty line of $3.65 per person per day) in 2022, almost doubling from 13.1% in 2021. The World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations are taking action to meet the nutritional needs of these vulnerable groups.

Women and Children

According to WFP, as of August 2022, 30% of Sri Lankans are enduring food insecurity, equating to about 6.3 million people. As such, about 66% of households are reducing their food portions and are consuming “less nutritious food,” the WFP website says.

Among those suffering the most from food insecurity in Sri Lanka are pregnant and breastfeeding mothers as well as those with physical or intellectual disabilities and children younger than the age of 5.

The economic crisis has caused a significant increase in food prices as well as a shortage of fuel. The spike in food prices means pregnant women and new moms are struggling to secure three balanced meals a day. Proper nutrition is crucial not only for their health but for the health of their babies.

In August 2022, a doctor at a hospital in Sri Lanka told BOOM journalism that “pregnant women who have visited the hospital in the last few months are all showing signs of anemia.”

Gayani Dilrukshi, who is 23 years old and seven months pregnant, only eats two meals every day with her 4-year-old daughter because she does not have the budget to afford three meals, according to an interview with BOOM journalism. The meals that Dilrukshi can afford are not nutrient-dense and, as such, she is not in overall good health at a critical point in her pregnancy, according to doctors.

Taking Action to Address Food Insecurity in Sri Lanka

The WFP is taking action to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable groups in Sri Lanka. However, the WFP requires $63 million worth of funding to adequately respond to the crisis in Sri Lanka. As of August 2022, the WFP’s response plan includes providing “3.4 million people with food assistance.”

In addition to this, WFP is looking to strengthen social safety-net programs that already exist. For instance, through the existing national school feeding program, the WFP aims to help 1 million Sri Lankan children. Through an existing state initiative that provides “fortified food to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and young children,” the WFP hopes to impact an additional 1 million individuals.

In November 2022, the United Nations amended its Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) Plan to further help vulnerable citizens throughout Sri Lanka. The HNP raised $79 million in funds from different organizations and countries such as the United States and Australia. Organizations such as Brandix Apparels and the Citi Foundation also contributed funds for Sri Lanka. The United Nations has revised the HNP plan, which will last through 2022, calling for an additional $70 million.

The revised HNP plan would give food aid to 2.4 million vulnerable Sri Lankans, plus assistance, such as fertilizer supplies, to at least 1.5 million farmers in Sri Lanka. Pregnant women and schoolchildren would be included in nutrition support efforts. This plan will also supply more than 900,000 people with clean and safe drinking water. As many as 867,000 people will receive aid in the form of integral medicine and health care.

Fortunately, organizations are addressing food insecurity in Sri Lanka, especially among vulnerable groups. Through aid, Sri Lanka can recover from its current economic crisis.

– Yonina Anglin
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty Reduction in South Sudan

Poverty Reduction in South Sudan
South Sudan is considered the youngest nation in the world, officially gaining independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, after a vote for independence was passed via referendum in January of that year. Data from the World Bank shows that the poverty rate in South Sudan was 82.3% as of 2016 – the highest poverty rate in the world. The World Bank also outlined some of the other issues South Sudan faces including severe flooding, food shortages a humanitarian crisis coupled with a vulnerable government built upon a shaky peace treaty. These issues make it extremely difficult for South Sudan to address the poverty crisis.

The Difficulty of Addressing Poverty Reduction in South Sudan

The most significant of the issues South Sudan faces is the state of its government. In 2013, a violent conflict broke out leading to atrocities committed against civilians. All sides in the conflict signed a peace deal in 2015 for a unity government but the deal collapsed in 2016, leading to more conflict. In 2018, that deal became revitalized when President Salva Kiir and the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA/IO), Riek Machar, came to an agreement. Machar became vice president under the new government and the agreement was set to expire in February 2023. However, the parties who signed the peace agreement agreed to extend it to February 2025 in order to address peace reforms.

That front requires more work due to the injustices committed against South Sudan’s people by the military and rebel forces. For example, a U.N. peacekeeping mission in 2021 documented the killings of 440 civilians and the rapes of 64 women and girls in Tombuura by the SPLA/IO. None of the perpetrators were held accountable.

U.N. Special Representative for South Sudan Nicholas Haysom expressed the need for South Sudan’s government to address violence and uphold justice. In a speech to the U.N. Security Council, Haysom addressed the extension to the peace agreement and stated that it is a roadmap that should serve as a  waypoint, not an endpoint. The reforms that the South Sudanese government makes should serve as a means to generate long-lasting stability. They should not serve as a means to an end. It requires measures to prevent setbacks or gains from reservation. Haysom also reaffirmed the importance of international assistance, which will lead to poverty reduction and governmental stability in South Sudan.

Addressing Poverty

While the outlook for South Sudan may seem grim, there are solutions to poverty that various charities are implementing through foreign aid. The World Food Programme (WFP) is one example of an organization working to bring peace to feuding groups in South Sudan by addressing food insecurity. In an article about the Malual Mok and Thony communities, the WFP demonstrates its poverty reduction and peacekeeping efforts. Both the Malual Mok and Thony live in an agricultural area called Majak-Kot. The communities previously considered each other enemies, but a series of agricultural projects from the WFP helped to foster a sense of community between them. Instead of fighting over the land and competing to grow food, both communities peacefully coexist and grow food together for mutual benefit.

Moreover, nonprofit charities are also working towards poverty reduction in South Sudan. Many South Sudanese refugees founded charities dedicated to poverty reduction in South Sudan. One example is Helping Hands for South Sudan. Gabriel Akim Nyok, one of the “Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan,” a group of thousands of orphaned children who became refugees to escape from the civil war, founded this charity. After staying in the U.S. for five years, Nyok returned to Sudan in 2011 to visit the South Sudanese refugee camps. In doing so, he became determined to give the children the same opportunity for education that he received. Nyok and his charity have helped put South Sudanese refugee children through school each year. Helping Hands uses donations to put children through school and pay for their education and works directly with South Sudanese communities to improve schools and education.

– Matthew Wikfors
Photo: Flickr