NUTRITION

Food security. At the end of August, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published its annual report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.” The document focuses on how a transformation of food systems can be achieved to provide healthy and accessible diets for all people. Based on this document, FAO recommends that governments adopt policies that reduce the cost of nutritious food, with a view to achieving long-term food security and nutrition goals. It is expected that in the course of 2020-2021, these recommendations will be addressed by the different Executive Powers of the region in order to nurture eventual programs to promote fresh food and healthy eating.

In the report, the agency provides information about the progress at the regional level that has been obtained to achieve the goals related to hunger, food security, and nutrition. In turn, it presents data on the factors that raise the cost of healthy food and how this varies between regions. In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, the information provided highlights that it is one of the regions with the higher cost to maintain a healthy diet. The document also highlights that 26% of the population cannot access this type of diet. In conclusion, FAO determines that it is imperative that the costs of nutritious foods fall, including dairy products, fruits, vegetables and foods rich in protein.

In terms of environmental care, the report establishes that more than half of current emissions related to food consumption come from low- or middle-income countries, and a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases could be achieved between 65% and 88% if dietary practices and the cost of healthy food were changed in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this sense, some of the recommendations that FAO formulates are to generate awareness campaigns on the environmental impact of food and promote the reduction of food waste.

Next steps

At the end of August, FAO published a report based on which it diagnoses the state of the situation regarding the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals in terms of food. The document maintains that at the current rate of implementation of the SDGs, the world is still far from reaching the goal “Zero Hunger” by 2030. It is expected that, in the coming months, the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean will take this document as basis for the design and foundation of public policies to promote access to fresh food, as part of a strategy to lower the costs of adequate nutrition.