Some 22 million Colombians have difficulty accessing food, and some 12 million eat only twice a day, according to a report by the Association of Food Banks of Colombia.
Violence, armed conflict, inflation, Venezuelan migration and the war in Ukraine are some of the factors that have influenced the increase in food insecurity in Colombia, according to the representative of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO) in the South American country, Diego Mora.
“The biggest challenge is the increase in food prices in Colombia, which is due to many factors such as the issue of the war between Russia and Ukraine, for inputs for agricultural production, which had a significant rise because the production chain,” Mora told the voice of america. “You have to go to other countries that produce them, but in other quantities, so bringing them to the country is much more expensive,” he said.
According to data from the FAO, in Colombia there are 5 million people who are in critical points of hunger, which corresponds to 10% of the population.
Juan Carlos Buitrago, director of the Colombian Food Bank, told VOA that of the 2.4 million Venezuelans in the South American nation, 1.1 million are in a situation of food insecurity.
“In Colombia, access to food represents a risk specifically for this population,” he said.
Buitrago highlighted that the increase in violence and new mass displacements in different regions of the country where armed groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Clan del Golfo, the FARC dissidents and criminal gangs operate have influenced the statistics.
“Last year 592,000 people were displaced and another 54,000 were forced into confinement due to clashes between armed groups. Food cannot enter these territories because of the violence,” he stressed.
Another point that has affected Colombian families is inflation. The rise in prices has forced households to define consumption strategies in order to bring food to their tables. The pandemic has increased inequality and indicates that the high level of inflation will continue to affect the purchasing power of the most vulnerable families, according to the FAO.
The National Administrative Department of Statistics of Colombia (DANE) announced that inflation in Colombia stood at 11.44% in September, the highest since 1999. This increase has made the cost of food more expensive, linked to rising fertilizer costs, aggravated by the war in Ukraine.
Solutions
For Mora, there are several measures that could help mitigate the risk of more families falling into the risk of experiencing hunger, such as the establishment of production areas in highly fertile areas and the rapid distribution of food at supply points.
“We must avoid losses and waste, we must have clearer supply chains, using agroecological strategies, more logical supply systems, waste less and lose less in the production chain,” he said.
According to the Food Bank of Colombia, a third of the food produced in the country is being lost, with which the number of people who are in food vulnerability could be reduced.
“There are several strategies to deal with hunger crises while solving some underlying problems. First, improve conditional transfers for the poorest people; guarantee them some subsidies so that they can access food as a temporary strategy” and improve market deliveries that are made in some social programs, concluded Buitrago.
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