Lula unveils program to take Brazil off UN Hunger Map

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday (Aug. 31) reaffirmed on X (former Twitter) that the fight against hunger is his main objective in life. “I want workers to once again be able to have three meals a day in a dignified manner and to provide quality food for their children. The work goes on,” President Lula declared.

The capital of the state of Piauí, Teresina, was chosen for the official launch of the Brasil Sem Fome plan (“Brazil Without Hunger”), during which the president is expected to sign the decree instituting the program. Among the novelties is the proposal to integrate food security, social assistance, and health care in an effort to take the country off the Hunger Map, slashing poverty rates as well as food and nutritional insecurity.

The new policy was approved by the Interministerial Chamber for Food and Nutritional Security (Caisan), which brings together 24 ministries. Altogether, the plan covers 80 measures aimed at approximately 100 goals. The initiative is founded on three central pillars, said Valéria Burity, Extraordinary Secretary for Combating Hunger, from the Ministry of Development.

“The first pillar combines actions to ensure access to income and to promote a sense of civic duty as well as access to public social protection policies. The second brings together efforts ranging from the production to the consumption of adequate and healthy food. The third aims to mobilize the other branches of government, federal entities, and society, so that we can join forces to combat hunger in the country,” she said on Wednesday (30), during an interview in Teresina.

A bleak landscape

Brazil had left the United Nations (UN) Hunger Map in 2014 thanks to food and nutrition security strategies implemented over the previous decade, but it returned to the scene in the following years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data from the global report State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, released by five specialized UN agencies, show that one in ten Brazilians (9.9%) experienced severe food insecurity between 2020 and 2022. Also, almost a third (32.8%) of the country’s population is included in severe to moderate food insecurity categories—the equivalent of some 70.3 million Brazilians. The plight shows a deterioration in access to food security in Brazil. Previous data, from 2014 to 2016, indicate 18.3 percent.