24.4 million people will escape hunger in Brazil in 2023

In 2022, 33.1 million people in Brazil faced severe food and nutritional insecurity, in 2023 this number fell to 8.7 million people. It went from 15.5% of the Brazilian population to 4.1%, a drop of 11.4 percentage points. This is what data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNADC) reveals, released this Thursday (25.04) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

The information refers to the fourth quarter of last year and was obtained through the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) questionnaire, revealing that the percentage of people experiencing quantitative food deprivation was significantly reduced.

The broad set of social policies and programs brought together in the Brazil Without Hunger Plan, the resumption of economic growth, with the generation of jobs and income, and the appreciation of the minimum wage are some factors that put the country back at the forefront of the combat agenda. the hunger”
Wellington Dias, Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger

According to the Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Combating Hunger, Wellington Dias, the data presented are the result of the Federal Government’s effort to resume and restructure public policies to reduce hunger and poverty. “The leap achieved in 2023 shows that Brazil is back on the right path in tackling hunger”, he pointed out.

“The broad set of social policies and programs brought together in the Brazil Without Hunger Plan, the resumption of economic growth, with the generation of jobs and income, and the appreciation of the minimum wage are some factors that return the country to a prominent place on the health agenda. combating hunger in the world. Taking Brazil off the Hunger Map again is a priority for President Lula”, added the MDS leader.

In 2022, EBIA was applied by the Brazilian Research Network on Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security (Rede Penssan). However, the extraordinary secretary for Combating Poverty and Hunger at MDS, Valéria Burity, remembers that even in comparison to the results of 2018, the last year in which IBGE carried out the survey, the numbers are positive. At the time, 4.6% of households were severely food insecure.

“The results of EBIA 2023 result from a political choice. The decision to view the fight against hunger as an urgent commitment to reverse as quickly as possible the setbacks that have worsened the food insecurity situation in the country in recent years”, stated Valéria Burity.

The national secretary of Evaluation, Information Management and Single Registry of the MDS, Letícia Bartholo, also celebrated the numbers and highlighted the challenges that the government still faces. “After the bone queue period, in which Brazil experienced a lot of poverty and hunger, one of the first actions of the MDS, in this new administration, was to seek out the IBGE to resume the partnership and measure the food insecurity of Brazilians”, she recalled .

In 2018, IBGE’s Family Budget Survey (POF) already pointed to a relative worsening of food security indicators, interrupting the trajectory of overcoming hunger, revealed by IBGE in the PNADs of 2004, 2009 and 2013. Between the end of 2021 and early 2022, when Rede Penssan applied EBIA, Brazil was still facing the Covid-19 pandemic and there was a scenario of dismantling public policies, aggravated by food inflation, unemployment, debt and the absence of protection strategies Social.

Advances

In the macroeconomic scenario, there was GDP growth of 2.9% and the IPCA calculated for the food group fell from 11.6% in 2022 to 1.03% in 2023. This is the lowest rate since 2017.

With low inflation, the job market also gained strength and the unemployment rate fell from 9.6% in 2022 to 7.8% the following year. The monthly mass of income received by all workers reached R$295.6 billion, the highest value in the PNAD-C historical series.

Economic advances were accompanied by a series of social measures. Since March 2023, the new Bolsa Família guarantees a minimum income of R$600 per household, in addition to including the First Childhood Benefit worth R$150 per child aged zero to six.

The new model, focusing on early childhood, reduced poverty in this age group by 91.7% in one year. “Bolsa Família proves to be an efficient strategy to sustain food security for families with lower incomes”, assessed Minister Wellington Dias.

The MDS holder also highlights the social protection generated by the Continuous Payment Benefit (BPC) for retired people, pensioners and people with disabilities. “It is worth mentioning that the economic effect of social security and BPC was enhanced by the administrative effort to reduce waiting lists to access benefits”, he continued.

Other policies to combat poverty and hunger contributed to improving food insecurity indicators. The National School Meal Program (PNAE) guarantees daily meals for 40 million public school students across the country and was readjusted in 2023, after five years without an increase.

The Food Acquisition Program (PAA) ensures production and income for family farmers, with the purchase of products to be distributed in the social assistance, health, education and other public facilities.

All initiatives that are part of the Brazil Without Hunger Plan, prepared by the Interministerial Chamber of Food and Nutritional Security (Caisan), with the participation of the National Council for Food and Nutritional Security (Consea), and launched in August 2023.

With the participation of 24 ministries, the Plan creates instruments to promote healthy eating against various forms of malnutrition. “With information from IBGE, we will be able to locate where there is the greatest food insecurity and act within the Brazil Without Hunger Plan to eradicate hunger in the country again”, concluded secretary Letícia Bartholo.