Food and Nutrition Security in Brazil

2. This text is based in the account on the Status and Food Security Policies in Brazil published by the FAO headquarters
in Rome, in the report on the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014.

3. 3
The Report on the State of Food Insecurity in
the World 2014, published by FAO, reveals that
Brazil has reduced very significantly hunger,
stunting and undernourishment in recent years.
The indicator Prevalence of Undernourishment,
used by FAO for fifty years to measure and track
hunger internationally, declined to below 5%,
the statistical limit of the measure, below which
it considers that a country has overcome the
problem of hunger.

4. 4
FAO World Hunger Map in 2014
Very low: < 5%
Moderately low: ≥ 5% to 14,9%
Moderately high: ≥ 15% to 24,9%
High: ≥ 25% to 34,9%
Very High: ≥ 35%
Missing or insufficient data
Source: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

5. 5
This result is in line with the conclusions of several
studies on the topic, with different indicators,
such as the Human Development Report 2014,
published by the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), and the National Monitoring
Report on the Millennium Development Goals,
organized by the Institute of Applied Economic
Research (IPEA in the Portuguese acronym), to
name a few of the latest.
Accordingtothesestudies,between2001and2012,
the income of the poorest 20% of the Brazilian
population grew three times more than the income
of the richest 20%. In a broader context, from 1990
to 2012, the share of population living in extreme
poverty fell from 25.5% to 3.5%. Regarding
nutritional status, the prevalence of low height
in children under five years of age was reduced
between 1996 and 2006 from 13.4% to 6.7%. The
application of the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale
in the National Household Sample Survey of the
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
(IBGE in the Portuguese acronym), in 2004 and
2009, showed a decrease in 25% of severe food
insecurity in the period.

6. 6
Children participating in Bolsa Família
Increase in average height of 5 year old children
Source: Brazil Ministry of Health, compiled by the Ministry of Social Development and the Fight Against Hunger
cm
Boys
Girls

7. 7
Advances in combating hunger and poverty, in the
analysispresentedintheFAOReport,stemfromthe
prioritization of the agenda of Food and Nutrition
Security (FNS) from 2003 on, with particular
emphasis on the launch of the Zero Hunger
strategy, the re-creation of the National Council
for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA in
the Portuguese acronym), the institutionalization
of FNS policies and the implementation, in an
articulate manner, of social protection policies and
funding for agricultural production.
Over the past decade, the FNS policy gained
force in Brazil by strengthening legal frameworks;
creating an institutional environment that
facilitated cooperation and coordination between
the different ministries and levels of government,
with defined responsibilities; greater investments
in areas such as family farming; and the strong
involvement of civil society in the political process.
A milestone was the enactment of the Organic
Law on Food and Nutrition Security in 2006.
The law defines food and nutrition security as
“the realization of everyone’s right to regular and
permanent access to quality food in sufficient
quantity, without compromising access to other
essential needs, based on health-promoting food
practices that respect cultural diversity and that
are environmentally, culturally, economically and
socially sustainable.”
The breadth of this definition was translated into
government policies and programs, which included

8. 8
actions ranging from promoting sustainable
agriculturalmodelstofoodandnutritioneducation,
approach that shaped the National Plan for Food
and Nutrition Security currently in place.
Othericonicmomentsweretheincorporationinthe
Federal Constitution, in 2010, of the human right to
adequate food and, in 2011, the institutionalization
of the National Plan for Food and Nutrition
Security. The National Plan for Food and Nutrition
Security incorporates more than 40 programs and
actions. The Ministry of Social Development and
Fight Against Hunger is responsible for many of
these programs. Other ministries such as Health,
Agrarian Development, Education, Agriculture and
Environment are also involved.
The legal frameworks, the consolidation of
institutional arrangements by the Federal
Government and the effective promotion of social
participation are important sources of support
for policies on food and nutrition security. It is
noteworthy in this regard, the efforts of the National
Council for Food and Nutrition Security and the
National System for Food and Nutrition Security.
The National System for Food and Nutrition
Securityconsistsoftwocomponentsatthenational
level: the CONSEA and the Inter-ministerial
Chamber for Food and Nutrition Security
(CAISAN in the Portuguese acronym), which is
composed of 20 members of government offices
responsible for implementing food and nutrition
security policies and programs. Currently,

9. 9
the government is working to consolidate the
National System for Food and Nutrition Security
in states and municipalities, since most federal
programs for food and nutrition security and
family farming are run in these spheres, following
a decentralized approach which is already
working in other sectors.
The CONSEA makes recommendations and
monitors policies for food and nutrition security,
including the National Plan for Food and
Nutrition Security, promoting the integration
of actions into a unified strategy. The CONSEA
has worked with the Federal Government to
implement a national system of information
related to food and nutrition security, with more
than 50 indicators divided into six dimensions:
(i) food production; (ii) availability of food; (iii)
income/access to food and food expenses; (iv)
access to adequate food; (v) health and access to
related services; and (vi) education. This system
converges with the international consensus on the
need to consolidate a set of indicators to monitor
the complexity of food and nutrition security.

10. 10
Brazil has significantly reduced undernourishment when compared
to the most populous countries in the world
* Countries that left the Hunger Map
Source: FAO/2014, compiled by the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger

11. 11
The CAISAN is the inter-ministerial mechanism
for government coordination and management
of the National Policy and the National Plan for
Food and Nutrition Security. This institutional
arrangement of the Federal sphere is replicated in
states and municipalities.
Federal spending in 2013 on programs and
actions for food and nutrition security in Brazil
reached approximately R$ 78 billion (about US$
33,2 billion). Spending on social programs has
increased over 128% between 2000 and 2012,
while the share of these programs in the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 31%. In
2013, the programs related to social protection
represented the majority of the federal funds spent
on food and nutrition security, while programs
related to the production and distribution of food,
including for the promotion of family farming,
accounted for one-sixth of these expenditures.

12. 12
Brazil achieved the largest relative decrease in undernourished
population in Latin America (1990-2014)
Source: FAO/2014, compiled by SAGI/Brazil Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger

13. 13
The program of conditional cash transfer – “Bolsa
Família” – launched in 2003, carries out monetary
transfers, preferably having the mother as the card
holder, to more than 13.8 million low-income
familiesundertheconditionthatthefamily’schildren
stay in school and regularly visit the local health
services for immunization and child development
monitoring. Investment in this program tripled
in the last ten years, reaching nearly R$ 25 billion
(US$ 10,64 billion) in 2013, which is equivalent to
about a third of federal spending on programs and
actions for food and nutrition security.
In 2011, the Brazil Without Extreme Poverty
Plan was launched, with the goal of eradicating
extreme poverty in Brazil. The plan articulated
social protection with policies to promote equality
of income, employment, family production and
nutrition. Consequently, new policies dedicated to
the extremely poor people were introduced; they
addressed the need for improvement in the access
to public services in order to promote education,
healthandemployment.Theseincludedanincrease
in the value of the benefits of the Bolsa Família
program and expansion of access to kindergartens
and preschools. All these measures improve access
to food. In March 2013, all families in extreme
poverty started to receive benefits that guarantee a
minimum of income per capita of about US$ 1.25
per day. About 22 million Brazilians were removed
from extreme poverty since 2011.

14. 14
FAO “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014”
Report highlights Brazil’s strategy to fight hunger
• Availability of calories for the Brazilian po-
pulation has increased by 10% over 10 years
• Increased income of the poorest Brazilian
citizens:
• Generation of 21 million formal jobs
(2003-2014)
• 71.5% increase (purchase power,
after inflation) of the minimum wage
(2003-2014)
• 14 million families registered in
national Bolsa Família income
transfer program
• National School Meals Program - 43 million
children/youth served with school meals
every day
• Increased governance, transparency and
society participation with the recreation of
the CONSEA (National Council on Food
and Nutrition Security)

15. 15
The implementation of structuring policies such
as the strengthening of family farming, in parallel
with cash transfer programs such as Bolsa Família,
has been successful in reducing hunger in Brazil.
While agribusinesses and large farms dominate
the agricultural production for export, family
farming is growing and currently accounts for 70%
of the food consumed internally in the country.
Investments in policies to support family farmers
totaled R$ 17.3 billion (US$ 7,36 billion) in 2013;
the rural credit budget of the National Program for
Strengthening Family Farming was increased in
ten times between 2003 and 2013.
The Family Farming Food Purchase Program
(PAA in the Portuguese acronym), launched
in 2003, has also contributed to decreasing
poverty and overcoming hunger in the country,
particularly in rural areas, as it ensured a market
for the production of family farmers, one of the
vulnerable groups in the country. The program
operates through the direct purchase of food
from family farmers by the government. The
government donates this food to institutions that
serve vulnerable populations, uses it to prepare
meals served in public schools or increases its
stocks. In 2012, more than 185,000 farmers
throughout Brazil participated in the program,
each one receiving on average more than R$ 4,000
(about US$ 1,700) for their products. Federal
funds for the program increased almost in ten
times since 2003, exceeding R$ 1.3 billion in 2013.

16. 16
Investments in production increased Brazil´s food suply
Source: FAO 2014, compiled by SAGI/Brazil Ministry of Social Development and the Fight Against Hunger

17. 17
The National School Feeding Program has
also had significant impact in reducing
undernourishment of children in Brazil. The
program provides meals to all students in public
schools, a number that, in 2012, meant 43 million
students enrolled. The federal investment in
the School Feeding Program was R$ 3.3 billion
(US$ 1,4 billion) in 2012, supplemented by
the funding made by both state and municipal
governments. In 2009, the program evolved to
require that public schools spend at least 30% of
the funds transferred by the federal government
into food purchase directly from family farmers.
Other policies, such as insurance against harvest
loss due to extreme climate events, a minimum
price guarantee, special support to rural women,
rural development and technical assistance have
as their objective to increase productivity and
incomes, and also responding to the specific
needs of different regions of Brazil. Over the past
decade, access to land was strengthened by the
distribution of 50 million hectares to more than
600,000 poor landless families. The programs of
the Brazil Without Extreme Poverty Plan reinforce
this support, providing small farmers with the
rural extension services to implement projects and
improve their livelihoods through the Program of
Incentives for Rural Productive Activities.
Information in this report highlights the
significant progress achieved in the last ten
years in Brazil, as well as the challenges for
the next decade. Some emerging agendas and

18. 18
criticism include: groups of people who remain
in severe food insecurity; concentration of land
ownership; need to improve the balance between
the models of agricultural production, from the
perspective of food and nutrition security; food
supply policy; access to water; and promotion of
adequate and healthy eating habits.
Brazil has made great progress in the governance
of food and nutrition security over the last
decade. The significant progress in reducing
poverty and hunger demonstrate the success
of this inter-sectorial, participatory and well-
coordinated approach. The National Plan for
Food and Nutrition Security, developed with
the participation of civil society is linked to the
federal budget and a well-structured system
of multidimensional monitoring of food and
nutrition security. The Brazil Without Extreme
Poverty Plan, based on all these points, aims to
reach vulnerable populations and it invests in early
childhood - priority actions that have an enormous
impact in the future.
Structures and capabilities that result from the
evolution and the institutionalization of the
governanceoffoodandnutritionsecurityandthe
continued political and budgetary commitment
put Brazil on a solid foundation to protect the
gains achieved and to face new challenges.