Who is not hungry, is not in a hurry – 06/20/2023 – Policies and Justice

We need to talk about hunger. Poverty and inequality are at the root of the problem of hunger, which generates diverse impacts and among them is school dropout. This factor impacts the productive inclusion of human capital, reducing the probability of innovation and increased productivity, which, in turn, create an obstacle to economic development and income generation for citizens, which also results in greater difficulty for the State to dedicate public budget to the guarantees of basic rights to the citizen.

Abundant evidence accumulates: a recent econometric study, carried out by researchers from USP (University of São Paulo), demonstrates the correlation of food insecurity with poverty and regional inequalities, especially affecting women, blacks and children. In education in particular, several studies have already demonstrated a strong correlation between hunger and the probability of repeating and dropping out of school, the latter being one of the key problems in educational investment, with estimated costs of R$ 124 billion for society.

Brazil is among the countries with the lowest rates of social mobility, and education is a major driving force in creating opportunities to reduce social inequality and break the cycle of poverty. The phenomenon of hunger then appears as a barrier that prevents the expected effects on education and other public policies, cutting off possibilities for the emancipation of citizens. This is probably one of the biggest bottlenecks to socioeconomic development.

Josué de Castro, in 1935, was the first to verify that the low productivity in the industrial sector of Recife was caused not by disease, but by hunger. After 60 years, there was still a poor understanding of the phenomenon, the focus of public policies was on the insufficient supply of food. In the following years, there was a strong growth in the agricultural industry and in the food supply, and hunger continued to persist. It was only after a sequence of improvements in programs such as Fome Zero and Bolsa Família, which enabled more expressive access to income, that Brazil was able to leave the hunger map in 2014.

The years that followed saw strong dismantling of public policies to combat hunger, accompanied by a vertiginous growth in hunger and food insecurity. In 2013, 25% of the population experienced food insecurity. In 2022, we will reach 58%.

Errors and instabilities in State decisions generate a roller coaster in social indicators, the consequences are felt by those who are most distant from decision-making and suffer the ills of persistent social exclusion in our country. The negligence and indifference on the part of civil society towards something as unworthy as hunger is symptomatic of a country that accumulates at its roots the wounds of racism, sexism and elitism.

Any conception of solution to a complex phenomenon like hunger, if poorly formulated by public managers, puts us at the mercy of a laboratory of death, not just of individuals, but of the social fabric as a whole. The importance of building an interdisciplinary strategic vision and analyzing the relationship between social phenomena in Brazil from the evidence, become indispensable factors to face the problem.

The editor, Michael França, asks each participant of the space “Politics and Justice” of the Sheet suggest a song to the readers. In this text, the one chosen by Ricardo Mota was “Carcará”, by Maria Bethânia.

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