Atlas of Food Systems highlights crisis in Southern Cone countries

To reflect on how hunger is an increasingly present challenge, the Rosa Luxemburgo Foundation and Editora Expressão Popular are launching the Southern Cone Food Systems Atlas, a work that not only describes, but also analyzes the roots and ramifications of this reality .

In June 2022, when the first edition of the Atlas was released, the Covid-19 pandemic was still a global concern. Since then, the number of people suffering from hunger has increased by 150 million, says the latest State of World Food Security Report. This corresponds to a continent of hungry people equivalent to twice the number of inhabitants of the United Kingdom.

The Atlas provides, in its first part, a context regarding the crises triggered by an economic model that has proven inefficient in adequately feeding the population of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, regions abundant in natural resources . The five countries have high human development indices (HDI) and hold 8.3% of the planet’s agricultural area, with 3.5% of the world’s population. In the second part, the study discusses why the agribusiness model cannot be the only way to produce and distribute food.

“Behind the multiple causes that cause the growth of hunger in the world, there is a food system and a mode of production that do not prioritize healthy food in sufficient quantity and quality to feed the population. The climate crisis and the growth of militarism are deepening this situation. The model imposes on the poorest people hunger or the massive consumption of ultra-processed foods, causing a series of social and human health impacts”, said Jorge Pereira Filho, one of the publication’s organizers.

Food paradox

While the Southern Cone is a region that produces surplus agricultural and animal foods, millions of people face food shortages every day. The big issue is the priority of large livestock producers. The majority of all production is sent to foreign markets.

Despite the significant increase in exports in the primary sector over the last few decades in the Southern Cone, this growth has not been translated into jobs in the countryside. On the contrary, a gradual exodus from rural areas to urban peripheries was observed, resulting in an increase in population in these regions.

The trend is not exclusive to Brazil, it also affects countries such as Argentina, where the share of industrialized products in exports fell from 35% in 1989 to 15%. In Brazil, participation decreased from 59% in 1993 to 27% today. This change results in far-reaching impacts, including environmental degradation, the excessive use of pesticides, the expulsion of traditional communities to free up land, and the disorderly growth of urban areas.

In this context, food insecurity emerges as yet another manifestation of social inequalities, where States fail to guarantee access to food as a fundamental right, prioritizing policies that favor the unbridled exploitation of natural resources, known as neo-extractivism.

“The way out of this situation necessarily involves recognizing that the model applied in the Southern Cone countries, of encouraging the production of commodities for export, is incompatible with the needs of its population. We need public policies that encourage the planting of real food, without pesticides, and that make this production reach those who need it most. Recognizing the role of family peasant farming is a starting point, as is the importance of the initiatives of organized popular movements. And, above all, it is essential that the State takes a leading role in the reorganization of agrarian space with the aim of prioritizing the fight against hunger in each country”, stated Jorge Pereira Filho.

Food sovereignty

Faced with such a scenario, the Southern Cone Food Systems Atlas presents possible solutions to change reality. The research highlights the need for the union of social forces, both in the countryside and in urban areas, in favor of the defense of territories, the construction of food sovereignty and the search for a fairer and more democratic country.

The study also reveals the need to build a new model for the countryside and its relationship with cities, guaranteeing family, peasant and indigenous agriculture, and that these groups have unrestricted access to common resources, such as land, water and seeds. Without this, food sovereignty will remain unattainable, the publication concludes.