In five years, food insecurity drops 21.3% in RN

In five years, food insecurity decreased by 21.3% in Rio Grande do Norte. This was the second biggest drop in the Northeast region. Only Maranhão was better, 22.6%. The data are from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Pnad), released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) this Thursday (25).

In absolute numbers, this means that in Rio Grande do Norte 158 thousand families achieved food security. Still, 63 thousand households in Rio Grande do Norte live in the most serious level of food insecurity. In other words, in these homes all family members lived with a reduction in the amount of food, including children, reaching the point of experiencing hunger.

Food security grows again in Brazil in 2023

The IBGE survey showed that of the 78.3 million permanent private households in Brazil, 72.4% (56.7 million) were in a food security situation, that is, they had permanent access to adequate food. This proportion grew 9.1 percentage points (pp) compared to the last survey, the POF 2017-2018, which had found 63.3% of the country’s households to be food secure.

However, 21.6 million households (27.6%) were affected by some degree of food insecurity. The most severe form encompassed around 3.2 million households (4.1%).

Carried out through a partnership between IBGE and the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Combating Hunger, the research had as its methodological reference the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA), which allows the identification and classification of households according to with the level of food security of its residents.

This is the first time that the Continuous PNAD has made available results according to the EBIA criteria, but four previous IBGE releases have already addressed the topic of food security according to this scale: the Supplements on Food and Nutritional Security (SAN), which were part of the PNAD in 2004, 2009 and 2013, in addition to the Family Budget Survey (POF) 2017-2018.

In the last quarter of 2023, 27.6% (21.6 million) of private households in Brazil were experiencing some degree of food insecurity, with 18.2% (14.3 million) falling into the mild level, 5.3 % (4.2 million) in moderate and 4.1% (3.2 million) in severe. The proportion of households with moderate or severe food insecurity (9.4%) fell 3.3 percentage points (pp) compared to the 2017-2018 POF (12.7%), but is still 1.6 pp above the 2013 PNAD (7.8%).

The scenario of severe food insecurity was more significant in rural areas of the country. The proportion of private households experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in these regions was 12.7%, compared to 8.9% in urban areas. Even so, the percentage in rural areas was the lowest since PNAD 2004 (23.6%).

Food insecurity is more present in the North and Northeast regions

Despite having more than half of residents with full and regular access to food, considering qualitative and quantitative aspects, the North (60.3%) and Northeast (61.2%) regions had the lowest proportions of private households with food security. These values ​​correspond, in number of households, to 3.6 million in the North and 12.7 million in the Northeast.

Minister Wellington Dias highlights the importance of CadÚnico

In a ceremony to announce IBGE data, the Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Combating Hunger, Wellington Dias, highlighted the importance of updating the Single Registry (CadÚnico), the basis for paying social programs, and the additional payment for children up to six years old, which helped Bolsa Família to have a more efficient result in reducing food insecurity.

“The previous government invested money, but did not use science, criteria, the payment of R$600 was for anyone. A family of two received R$600, but R$300 each, but in a family of ten people this meant R$60 each. So the money goes, but it doesn’t solve the problem of hunger”, said the minister, mentioning the problem of single-person families in the registry.

Wellington Dias stated that the challenge now is to include “these 8.7 million people who are still severely food insecure”. “How to do this? We will continue the active search for social programs”, he stated, recalling the commitment to remove Brazil from the “Hunger Map”.