About 16.6 million people – more than half of the population – currently do not have regular access to enough safe and nutritious food.
It’s a shocking reversal for Peru, a high-middle-income country that, according to the World Bank, can grow all the food it needs.
According to a year 2021 FAO According to research, 51 percent of the population is living in moderate food insecurity. Fernando Castro Verastegui, project coordinator at FAO Peru. “That means people have reduced the quality of their diets or eaten less than they should have.”
Poor alternatives
The agency said poverty was the cause. The poverty rate this year is 25%, meaning 1 in 4 Peruvians do not have enough money to cover their basic food basket.
Most people end up simply alleviate their hunger, but not eating enough food with all the necessary nutrients, such as protein. In parts of the Amazon rainforest in Peru – known locally as the “Selva” region – up to 70% of the population is anemic.
The skyline of Chorrillos, one of the towns of Lima in Peru.
Formula for Resilience
In the poor and dusty suburb of Chorrillos, one of Lima’s shanty towns overlooking the Pacific Ocean, women busily behind stoves.
Among them is Jenny Rojas Chumbe, a community activist and president of the soup kitchen “Ayuda Social” (or “social support”).
When COVID-19 Attacking the country, sending millions home with no income, Jenny saw urgent needs in her community and began gathering food to organize soup kitchens.
These “olas comunes” – as they are known locally – receive donations from food banks as well as other organizations and individuals. From 220 meals a day at the height of the pandemic, she still serves about 100 meals a day, although many people have returned to work.
“The number of meals that we provide has been reduced to 50 meals a day, because the purchasing power of the neighbors is getting better. But lately, it is increasing, because the crisis is affecting so many people. If you take vegetables, they are too expensive. A kilo of potatoes costs more than three Soles ($0.80), a liter of cooking oil, more than 12 Soles ($3.15),” explains Jenny.
Jenny Rojas Chumbe, President of Soup Kitchen “Ayuda Social” in Chorrillos Town, Lima, Peru.
Price spike
The skyrocketing potato prices had a real impact – and a powerful symbolic one in Peru: it was on the shores of Lake Titicaca that potatoes were first grown.
As for meat, chicken is the main source of protein in Peru, but only for those who can afford it. In fact, Jenny only cooks chicken for her neighbors, “once or twice a week, because it’s out of our budget.”
Peru’s annual inflation rate for 2022 has remained above 8% over the past months, a 24-year high. The prices of staples such as wheat, rice and cooking oil have more than doubled.
Fernando Castro Verastegui explains: The soup kitchen is people’s response to a food problem that has been around since before COVID. “For example, we have rates of malnutrition and anemia that have stagnated. The economic, political and environmental problems we are facing tell us that the food situation is at risk. When COVID came, this exploded.”
A Food Bank employee collects food at a wholesale market in Lima (mercado de thioristas), Peru.
coronavirus effect
Peru has really been hit hard by COVID-19. It suffered the world’s highest death rate during the pandemic, as more than 0.65% of the population died from the virus. In parallel, the closure increases the unemployment rate.
The weight of inflation
Adding to the post-COVID downturn, inflation, driven by the war in Ukraine, weighed on the outlook for a recovery. Mr. Castro said Peru is also experiencing high prices due to a series of phenomena occurring at the global level, especially the increase in fuel prices and supplies, as well as the consequences of the conflicts. conflict in Ukraine.
In addition to rising food and energy prices, FAO points to government mismanagement, poor dietary habits and an over-reliance on imported food and fertilizers as other causes. food crisis in Peru.
Imported chemical fertilizers cost four times more than a year ago, forcing farmers to reduce their use. The concern is that this will likely affect food production in the coming months and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities in Peru.
An agricultural worker sprays pesticides in a field in Canta, Lima province, Peru.
