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During 2020, with the arrival of the Covid-19 crisis in Mexico, about 60% of Mexicans entered one of the levels of food insecurity, which means that within more than half of the households there was uncertainty about the possibility of acquiring food.
According to figures from the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2020 on Covid-19 of the INSP, the increase in the level of food insecurity In Mexico, it occurred mainly in the lowest socioeconomic strata for two fundamental reasons: the poorest faced a stronger reduction in their income, while they are the ones who spend the most proportion of their income on food.
In this year, the economic and labor contraction caused 3.8 million people in the country to join the ranks of poverty and therefore faced problems to buy basic goods and services for life.
In Mexico, poverty is measured in a multidimensional way, which implies that not only people’s income is considered, but also access to social rights such as food, housing, services, health, social security and The education. And the pandemic also increased the deficiencies in some of these rights, food was one of them.
From 2018 to 2020 the Mexican population that has difficulty accessing a nutritious and quality diet it went from 27.5 to 28.6 million, representing 22.5% of the total population. In other words: 2 out of 10 Mexicans do not have access to decent food.
But food insecurity, a concept developed by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), gives a broader panorama of the economic and labor relationship that people have with their food.
The food insecurity It doesn’t just look at people who are hungry or have difficulty paying for food; Rather, it breaks down into three levels how economic pressures make households have to restructure these relationships with food.
So, at least in Mexico, the poorest were not the only ones who faced – and surely still face – food insecurity. Surely, the majority of Mexicans who faced some type of food insecurity during the crisis caused by Covid-19 during 2020 do not even know it.
What are the three levels of food insecurity?
Mild food insecurity
When expenses are increasing or income is being insufficient and families face a reorganization of the money they allocate to each item: housing, clothing, health and of course, food.
FAO defines this level of food insecurity as the situation in which families face uncertainty or concern that the domestic economy is not sufficient to obtain food.
Moderate food insecurity
When the domestic economy faces negative changes and households make modifications such as removing some products of animal origin from their diet, replacing brands with cheaper ones or even reducing the amount of food.
Some families at this level may have insufficient financial resources to eat a healthy diet, acquire all the necessary nutrients, or sometimes go without food.
FAO defines this level of food insecurity when the quality of the diet is put at risk and the variety of food is compromised. When you reduce the amount of food or skip meals a day.
Severe food insecurity
When households have such low income that members do not consume food of any kind for 24 hours or more.
FAO defines this level of food insecurity as the situation in which families are left without resources to buy food and when a whole day has passed they are eating several times during the year.
What is negative pressure on food security?
Eating is a basic activity for life, but it is particularly diverse in a country as unequal as Mexico; people eat what they can, what is enough for them, what makes them feel less sad, what distracts them, what they like or what brings back a good memory.
There are different factors that can influence people’s relationship with food, but statistically the most important is one: money.
Although 2021 is almost over and was marked as the year of recovery, the reality is that various global problems continue to put pressure on the well-being of the population. The emergence of new variants of Covid-19 and inflationary pressures, especially in agricultural products, continue to impact two of the most fundamental human rights: health and food.
In Mexico, products of mass consumption in the population such as corn, tortillas, meats, chili, tomato and onion are reaching price increases significantly higher than the general inflation rate, which already exceeds 7% , three percentage points above the target.
Only from October to November the minimum average price of the basic basket in urban regions increased 1.4%, according to the historical records of the Coneval (National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy).
For rural regions things are worse, in this period the basic food basket became 1.7% more expensive in just one month.
Not only is the economy pressured by the accelerating, globalized inflation facing the world; food security and the health of the population is one of the areas that is suffering the most from these pressures.
ana.garcia@eleconomista.mx
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