Lula regulates initiatives to expand access to food
On Tuesday (Mar. 5), Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regulated the new composition of the basic food basket and the Cozinha Solidária (“Solidarity Kitchen”) program, which will provide free food to homeless and food-insecure people. The decrees were signed during the plenary meeting of the National Council for Food and Nutritional Security (Consea), at the Planalto presidential palace.
At the event, the president reaffirmed that the fight against hunger is his government’s priority. “We need to be aware that the problem isn’t a lack of food, it’s a lack of resources for people to have access to food,” he said, highlighting the high productivity of food in the country, but also pointing out the importance of guaranteeing the circulation of money so that the productive sector can be stimulated.
He also stressed the need for education to prevent obesity. “There’s another disease called obesity, which is the lack of food education,” he noted.
The president also urged ministers not to create bureaucratic problems in any part of the government. “I want to point out that our problem [will not be solved] if we become bureaucrats, if we slack off and don’t work. We have all the instruments to end hunger in this country,” he argued. “It’s a lifelong commitment to end this wretched disease called hunger, which shouldn’t exist in an agricultural country like Brazil,” he added.
Cozinha Solidária is spearheaded by the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family, and Fight against Hunger. Following its regulation, the ministry also announced BRL 30 million in resources for the provision of meals, which will be allocated through public calls for proposals.
Created in July 2023, the so-called solidarity kitchens arose from initiatives by nonprofits and popular movements that joined forces and created spaces for preparing and distributing meals, in response to the reality of hunger that was accentuated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The regulation guarantees the program’s implementation and operation. The ministry has mapped 2,77,000 solidarity kitchens across the country, which also work through a range of initiatives around family farming, urban agriculture, and community gardens.
The text points out the efforts to be covered throughout the country and determines how the federal government should support them, as well as criteria for participation and guidelines based on food and nutritional security criteria.
Basic food basket
According to the government, the new composition of the basic food basket is in line with the recommendations and principles of the official guidelines on healthy eating for the population. The regulations include more fresh and minimally processed foods in the basket, as well as regional products.
“The aim is to avoid eating ultra-processed foods, which according to scientific evidence increase the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and various types of cancer,” a statement from the president’s office reads.
With its new composition, the basic food basket will have items from ten different groups: beans (legumes); cereals; roots and tubers; legumes and vegetables; fruit; chestnuts and nuts (oilseeds); meat and eggs; milk and cheese; sugars, salt, oil, and fats; coffee, tea, mate, and spices.
The Council
Also during the event, the president of Consea, Elisabetta Recine, handed President Lula a document with 248 proposals approved at the 6th National Conference on Food and Nutritional Security to help the government draw up the 3rd National Plan for Food and Nutritional Security, for 2024–2027.
In addition to the proposals, the president was given the manifesto entitled Eradicating Hunger and Guaranteeing Rights with Real Food, Democracy, and Equity, which summarizes the message of the conference participants regarding the challenges facing society in eradicating hunger and guaranteeing the right to adequate food.
The council is an immediate advisory body to the president, made up of two thirds of representatives of society and one third of government officials. Closed early in 2019 by the previous administration, it was reactivated by President Lula in February last year.
Consea is part of the National Food and Nutritional Security System (Sisan), which is responsible for managing public policies and coordination between federal, state, and municipal authorities with the participation of society, for the implementation of policies aimed at the sector.
