The food crisis advances in Peru, more than half of the population lacks sufficient food

Currently, some 16.6 million people, more than half the population, do not have regular access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food in Peru, despite the fact that the world Bank classifies that country as an upper-middle-income economy that can produce all the food it needs.

A 2021 study from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) showed that 51% of the population lives in a situation of food insecurity and that 20% of this group suffers from acute food insecurity.

Fernando Castro Verastegui, FAO Project Coordinator in Peru, pointed out that “this means that people have reduced the quality of their diet or are eating less than they need.”

The agency affirms that the main cause of this insecurity is a poverty rate that this year reaches a quarter of the population, preventing them from covering their basic food basket.

Faced with this situation, most people have no choice but to alleviate their hunger however they can, without eating proper foods that contain all the necessary nutrients, such as protein. In parts of the Peruvian Amazon jungle, up to 70% of the population is anemic.

popular pots

In the poor and dusty suburb of Chorrillos, one of Lima’s slums overlooking the Pacific Ocean, women cook behind the stove. Among them is Jenny Rojas Chumbe, community activist and president of the “Ayuda Social” soup kitchen.

As COVID-19 hit the country, sending millions home with no income, Jenny identified the urgent needs in her community and began collecting food to organize soup kitchens.

These “common pots”, as they are known locally, receive donations from food banks, as well as other organizations and individuals.

Of the 220 meals a day he prepared at the height of the pandemic, today he continues to serve around 100 a day, despite the fact that many people have returned to work.

“The number of meals we were providing had been reduced to 50 per day because the neighbors were doing better in terms of purchasing power. But lately we have increased meals because the crisis is affecting many people. If you want vegetables, they are too expensive. A kilo of potatoes costs more than three soles (about 80 US cents), a liter of cooking oil costs more than 12 soles (3.15 dollars)”, Jenny details.

Rising potato prices have a real impact, and a powerful symbolic impact in Peru: it is 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. Jenny cooks chicken for her neighbors, “just once or twice a week because it would be out of our budget,” she clarifies.

price escalation

Peru’s annual inflation rate for 2022 has remained above 8% in recent months, its highest level in 24 years. Staple foods like wheat, rice, and cooking oil have more than doubled in price.

The soup kitchens were the people’s response to the food problem that came from before COVID-19, explains Fernando Castro Verástegui. “We had rates of malnutrition and anemia that had stagnated. The economic, political and environmental problems that we were already having told us that the food situation was at risk. When COVID arrived, this exploded, ”he added.

Peru was badly hit by the coronavirus. It suffered the highest death rate in the world during the pandemic: more than 0.65% of the population succumbed to the virus. In addition, the lockdowns increased unemployment.

Added to the recession stemming from the pandemic, inflation, fueled by the war in Ukraine, weighs heavily on the prospects for recovery.

Castro Verástigui said that Peru also registers an increase in prices as a result of a series of global phenomena, especially fuel inflation.

The FAO also points out that government mismanagement, poor eating habits and excessive dependence on imported basic foods and fertilizers are additional reasons for the food crisis in Peru.

Imported chemical fertilizers cost up to four times more than a year ago, forcing farmers to reduce their use. The fear is that this will affect food production in the coming months and aggravate existing vulnerabilities in the South American country.