RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The world is heading toward an unprecedented hunger crisis. The number of hungry people in 2020 may exceed the previously projected 132 million.
The pandemic breaks food supply chains, weakens economies, and erodes consumer purchasing power.
Some projections show that by the end of the year, the Covid-19 pandemic will cause more deaths from hunger every day than from infection with the virus.
The situation is impressive because the abrupt shift occurs at a time of tremendous global food surpluses.
This is happening in all parts of the world, with new levels of food insecurity for countries that had a relative stability in this indicator.
In New York City, people wait in line for eight hours for a basket of staple foods while farmers destroy lettuce plantations in California and leave rotting fruit on trees in Washington State.
In Uganda, bananas and tomatoes pile up in open markets and, no matter how much prices slump, they are not affordable for many jobless people.
Shipments of rice and meat were left in ports earlier this year due to logistical congestion in the Philippines, China, and Nigeria. In South America, Venezuela is on the verge of widespread hunger.
“We will see the scars of this crisis for generations to come,” said Mariana Chilton, director of the Center for Hunger Free Communities at Drexel University. “In 2120, we will still be talking about this crisis.”
Covid-19 has exposed some of the deepest inequalities and determines who will eat and who will not, highlighting global social divides in which the wealthiest continue to enjoy a rampant rate of wealth accumulation.
Millions of people have been dismissed from their jobs and lack enough money to feed their families, despite trillions of dollars in government stimulus that have driven global stock markets records.
In addition to the economic crisis, social isolation measures and disruptions in supply chains have also led to a serious food distribution problem.
Sudden shutdowns in restaurants led producers to dump milk and destroy eggs because they were unable to redirect goods to supermarkets or to people in need.
Initial United Nations projections show that, in the worst-case scenario, about one-tenth of the world’s population will not have enough food this year.
The consequences will be long-lasting. At best, the UN expects hunger to be more severe over the next decade than projected before the pandemic. In 2030, the number of undernourished people could reach 909 million, compared to a pre-Covid scenario of 841 million.
The current crisis is one of the “rarest,” with physical and economic limitations on access to food, said Arif Husain, chief economist of the UN World Food Programme.
By the end of the year, up to 12,000 people could die daily from hunger caused by Covid-19, potentially more than the number of deaths caused by the virus itself, according to estimates by the charitable organization Oxfam International. The estimate is based on a leap of over 80 percent in the population subject to critical hunger.
The expected increase in malnutrition also has a profound impact. Malnutrition can weaken the immune system, limit mobility, and even impair the functioning of the brain. Children who experience malnutrition in the early years of life may suffer sequelae until adulthood.
Aid in Brazil
Latin America, a region rich in agriculture and exporting food to the world, is leading the rise in hunger this year, according to the UN World Food Programme.
In Brazil, the R$600 (US$120) emergency aid has helped millions and reduced poverty rates, but it has not met all needs.
In the Brazilian Northeast, Eder Saulo de Melo worked as a security guard at events until the virus came. With the suspension of events, he has not been paid for months.
He was not included in the emergency program and the R$130 he collects in regular monthly aid is spent on electricity, water, and gas bills, leaving little to feed his three children.
Baskets of non-perishables, vegetables, bread, and eggs from a non-governmental organization are the family’s main livelihood.
He says he has stopped buying fruit and meat. Instead of a chunk of chicken, he buys giblets to make soup.
Source: O Globo