LATIN AMERICA:
Concrete Plans Needed to Reach Zero Hunger
Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO,  (IPS) - In spite of the enormous amount of food produced in Latin America and the Caribbean, there is still hunger in the region. But each country will have to draw up its own plan to combat it, as the size of the problem and progress towards eradicating it vary considerably from country to country.

Intent on meeting - and surpassing - the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of the population living in hunger by 2015, the 28 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean that took part in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) regional conference agreed to completely eradicate hunger by 2025.

To fulfil the commitment made by these countries at the regional conference in Venezuela a month ago, food security laws must be passed and specific policies implemented, stated the Santiago-based FAO regional office.

"The main challenge faced by these countries is to create specific social policies to fight hunger, programmes based in specific locations, that create job and income generation opportunities for the poor," José Graziano Da Silva, head of the regional office, told IPS.

"To do this, the hungry population must be identified, located and counted. Many countries still have no figures or statistics. Mapping out a plan is extremely important," added the expert, who on May 17 presented the conclusions of the 29th FAO Regional Conference, which took place in Caracas, Venezuela from Apr. 24-28.

Da Silva highlighted the attendance of large numbers of government authorities at the meeting, which is held every two years to review action taken and formulate recommendations, suggestions and challenges for the governments on agricultural, forestry and fishery matters.

Twenty-eight countries out of a total of 33 - Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Guyana and Paraguay did not take part û agreed to eradicate malnutrition by 2025, adopting a proposal presented by the governments of Brazil and Guatemala at the Latin American Conference on Chronic Hunger, held in September 2005 in Guatemala.

According to the latest FAO statistics, there are 53 million undernourished people in Latin America and the Caribbean, equivalent to 10 percent of the population, although there are enormous differences between countries.

In seven countries in the region, more than 21 percent of the population is undernourished, while in others the figure is below nine percent. Paradoxically, Latin America and the Caribbean is the world's main food producing region.

The FAO regional office was asked by the countries to promote, from the second half of 2006 onwards, a programme focused on three basic aspects: improving access to food, increasing production and productivity on family farms, and promoting urban food security policies.

The first action taken by the regional office was to recommend that the 28 countries adopt the 19 Voluntary Guidelines approved by FAO in 2004, which "support the progressive realisation of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security."

FAO believes that these guidelines should be incorporated into food security laws that would establish a constitutional right to food in each country. Guatemala is at the forefront of this kind of legislation.

On Apr. 6, 2005, the Guatemalan Congress enacted the Food Security Law, establishing a national system, and secretariat, of food and nutritional security, which answers to the president's office. The Brazilian legislature is currently debating a similar measure.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, malnutrition is mainly caused by a lack of access to food: a significant proportion of the population cannot afford to buy enough food, or does not have the resources needed to produce it on a subsistence basis.

Between 1992 and 2002, the number of undernourished people in the region fell from 59.5 million to 52.9 million - that is, from 13 percent to 10 percent of the total population.

But this progress has been insufficient, and the decline in malnutrition appears to have stalled, which means that many countries may not achieve the first MDG.

If the present trend continues, malnutrition would still plague 40 million people in the region in 2015, and 31.2 million in 2025. Central America and the Caribbean would be the worst affected areas, and nine countries would fail to meet the first MDG.

With respect to the progress in fighting hunger over the last decade, and the chances of eradicating it by 2025, the region's countries fall into four groups. The first includes Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador and Uruguay, which are in a position to meet the MDG if they maintain their present commitment in effort and resources.

Next in line are the countries that will need to make additional efforts, beyond the plans and projects they are currently implementing. Among them are Brazil, El Salvador, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname. The third group, made up of Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela, has "medium level investment needs," according to FAO.

Lastly, there are the countries that will require massive effort and investments in order to eradicate hunger by 2025, including especially the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

According to Da Silva, the political climate in the region is positive at the moment. "Many countries are experiencing changes. By 2007, 15 countries will be electing new presidents. But what we have seen so far is that the new governments are putting much more emphasis on fighting hunger and extreme poverty. There are some difficulties, but Latin American integration is growing," the expert said.

Nevertheless, Da Silva thought that political commitment alone was not enough. Concrete action programmes were needed that would, among other things, develop local capabilities, to ensure that the changes occurring within the countries would be sustainable.