According to the FAO, food insecurity affects more than half of Peruvians.

food insecurity More than half of Peruvians already suffer from it, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

In total, more than 16.6 million Peruvians live in Peru. food insecurity moderate or severe, twice as many as before the pandemic.

Enrique Roman, Assistant FAO Representative in Peru, noted that this increase that has not been seen before.

“Before the pandemic, we had a level of food insecurity that exceeded eight million, after the pandemic we reached 15.5 million people, and now we have reached 16.6 million people, this means that compared to the period before the pandemic, 2019 years, there has been a dizzying growth. today, and we can say that the number of people who suffer from food insecurity in one way or another has doubled,” he said.

This high level of food insecurity means that 50.5% of Peruvians do not meet their daily food needs due to lack of income.

“Food insecurity is like a spectrum, it has different degrees. If you don’t have access to healthy food, you are already food insecure if healthy food is on the market but you don’t have it. Money to buy them, you are already food insecure, if you can only buy food twice a day, you are already food insecure,” Roman explained.

Considering this, research The state of food insecurity in the world (SOPHIE) FAO indicates that 2.7 million people in the country suffer from malnutrition, and 1.8 million Peruvian women aged 15 to 49 are anemic.

FAO, which estimates main basket a meal for four costs S$503 a month, notes that healthy eating is becoming more expensive in Peru.

“It’s estimated that a healthy diet costs more or less $3.28 per person, and that leaves over 20% of the population without access to that diet,” he said.

It is worth noting that the agency previously estimated that food prices could rise by 35% at the end of 2022 due to a shortage of fertilizers.

Why has food security increased?

The Representative of FAO noted that such a state vulnerability in Peru it was generated by external factors, i.e., the world economy.

“We have seen that the pandemic, the fertilizer crisis and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have led to serious consequences around the world, and all of them are related to the effects of climate change, such as droughts or floods,” he said.

Roman argued that despite the aforementioned influence, Peru must be one of the least vulnerable to this type of international phenomenon because it is a food manufacturer.

“There are countries in the region that import more than 80% of the food they consume, and they are the ones who will have the hardest time,” he commented.