More than 50 million people saved from hunger. This is the record of the “Fome zero” (Zero Hunger) programme launched in 2003 by then Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with concrete measures targeting agriculture, schools and support for the poorest families, particularly children. According to some studies, for every real spent the return was 1.78.
The 'Zero Hunger' programme implemented by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003 helped combat poverty in the great South American country. Effectively. So much so that today, international institutions and neighbouring countries are looking with great interest at the possibility of importing these measures to achieve concrete social improvements.
Elected for the first time in 2002, and re-confirmed for a further four years in 2006, during his government Lula introduced the "Fome zero" programme, Zero Hunger, a series of subsidies for the poorest families, "Bolsa familia", which snatched millions of people from hunger and helped make him one of the most loved and popular South American leaders, both at home and abroad.
"To ensure every Brazilian eats three meals a day" was the first stated objective of his presidency.
"The problem of hunger is not a question of a lack of food. The world, in fact, produces far more food than humanity needs. But there is a part of this humanity that does not have the money to buy it." Starting from this fact, which was the point of departure for the fight against hunger in Brazil, former Brazilian president Lula recounted this remarkable experience in a video message to the Expo of Ideas.
The number of people suffering from hunger in Brazil has fallen by nearly 10 million in 20 years. Between 1992 and 2013, the number of people suffering from hunger in the country was reduced from 22.8 to 13.6 million. The goal for governments was to reduce by 50% the proportion of people suffering from hunger relative to the total population. The baseline year is 1990, and the target year was 2015. According to the FAO, in Brazil the reduction exceeded 54%. In 1990, 15% of the population suffered from hunger; today the rate has fallen to 6.9%. Thanks to an initial allocation of 500 million dollars, Lula managed, over these years, to accomplish the far from easy task of combating the scourge of hunger, especially in the country's poorest regions.
The "Fome zero" (Zero Hunger) programme launched in 2003 includes the payment of cash subsidies to poor families on condition that their children are vaccinated, undergo regular medical check-ups and are sent to school. According to Vito Cistulli, an FAO official, "it worked thanks to the broad coverage, the conditionality and the continuity of the interventions." According to some studies, for every real spent the return is 1.78.
The strategy used is twofold: on one hand, action was taken with direct financial assistance to the poorest families (through the card known as "Bolsa Família") and access to microcredit, and on the other, the focus was placed on distributing food to the poorest people to guarantee the right of access to basic food products.
The programme also operates through different strategies, such as the construction of water cisterns in the semi-arid areas of Brazil, the opening of low-cost restaurants, education of the population and children in healthy eating habits, the distribution of vitamins and iron supplements. The fight against hunger has also involved the development of family farming with government investments rising from 1 to 4 million dollars.
Lula's ministers who coordinated Zero Hunger have repeatedly pointed out that this is not a philanthropic and welfare-based idea but, on the contrary, a policy that lays the foundations for consolidating rights that until now have not existed. Indeed, the programme implemented by the Brazilian president in 2003 has effectively contributed to combating poverty in the great South American country.
All indicators point to an improvement: the share of malnourished population has more than halved compared to the 10.7% of 2002 (again, source FAO) and infant mortality has fallen from 28 children per thousand to 18 per thousand. Since 2003, the poverty rate — that is, the share of the population earning less than 2 dollars a day — has plummeted from 24 to 10%, and at the same time the Gini index, which measures the intensity of inequalities on a scale from 1 to 0, has fallen from 0.59 to 0.52. Whatever indicator is used, whether life expectancy, caloric deficiencies or access to electricity and drinking water, the progress is evident.
So, within a decade, more than 20 million Brazilians have been lifted out of their conditions of poverty. Results all the more noteworthy when one considers that, historically, poverty in Brazil is an endemic, sadly structural phenomenon.
Thus, today it is also the "neighbours" who are looking with interest at the possibility of importing these measures to achieve concrete social improvements.
A study carried out by UNDP highlighted an actual 20 per cent reduction in social inequalities in Brazil since 2001, and research promoted by the World Bank showed a significant reduction in child labour among children who benefited from the Bolsa Familia programme. If it is therefore true that hunger remains an emergency for hundreds of millions of people on the planet, it is precisely from Lula's initiative that Latin America has become the geographical area where, in recent years, the problem has been tackled most effectively.
Neighbouring countries today look with great interest at the possibility of applying this project in their own homes: in Venezuela, the government has launched various programmes against poverty, among which "Mision barrio adentro" (mission inside the shantytown) is the main one: the project aims to guarantee acceptable standards of food and health security in contexts of the greatest social deprivation, with results that have been concrete and encouraging in some favelas, and uncertain in others. Argentina, the other great South American country, has also launched a government programme against hunger, although this sounds almost like a contradiction when one considers that this nation is home to 40 million inhabitants, has strong social innovation capabilities, and above all has the potential to produce food for 400 million people.