How is Brazil facing the crisis of Food and Nutrition Security during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Carolina Abreu de Carvalho, Poliana Cristina de Almeida Fonseca Viola, Naiara Sperandio
Abstract
The goal of this commentary is to expose the situation of Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) in Brazil in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing a critical analysis of this scenario and suggesting ways to move forward. When COVID-19 arrived in Brazil, a crisis scenario that incorporated economic, social and political aspects became highly visible. This scenario fostered unemployment, poverty and hunger. Besides that, it exposed multiple vulnerabilities that were getting worse over the past few years prior to the pandemic. In this context, COVID-19 found in Brazil a fertile ground for its dissemination and community transmission. The impacts of the suspension of many commercial activities and other economic sectors due to the pandemic were quickly felt socially and economically in Brazil. Some of the actions carried out by the Brazilian government included the emergency aid payment and exemption from payment of energy bills for vulnerable individuals, release of funds for programmes for the direct purchase of food from family farmers, delivery of school food kits directly to students despite the closure of schools and publication of sanitary rules for the operation of restaurants. However, these actions are still insufficient, slow and not sufficiently coordinated to contain the progress of the food and nutritional insecurity crisis in Brazil. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency for the Brazilian government to again prioritise the FNS agenda. This includes implementing mechanisms to ensure the Human Right to Adequate Food and expanding existing FNS programmes.