Although Latin American countries began to put hunger and malnutrition on the agenda in the early 1990s, the effect was not satisfactory. Only about 2 million people benefited from this policy in 10. 1998 to 2000, the survey showed that about 54 million people in Latin America were malnourished to varying degrees, about 20% people in some countries (mainly Central American countries and Bolivia) were malnourished, and quite a few people were hungry. In these countries, the severe challenge facing the government is to provide adequate food and nutrition for these extremely poor people. In fact, from 1990 to 1998, many Latin American countries have reduced extreme poverty by increasing the food supply of low-income families.
The main sources of food supply are domestic production and foreign imports. Therefore, the decisive factor to ensure food security is to ensure food production and import capacity. The two main reasons that threaten food security in Latin America are that food production is heavily dependent on climate and food consumption is excessively dependent on imports, especially when the funds for importing food come from the export of a few products. This is the case in some countries in Central America where the nutritional index is seriously insufficient. The drought in 2003 made the grain output of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua drop sharply, and the sharp drop in coffee prices in the international market undoubtedly made matters worse. It is estimated that about 25,000 families in Guatemala (mostly engaged in small-scale agricultural production) are in famine. However, merely increasing food production and import capacity is not enough to solve the hunger problem. Only by focusing on increasing the food consumption of the poor and providing them with long-term stable food and nutrition can hunger be eradicated.
As we all know, the serious inequality of food consumption between low-income groups and middle-and high-income groups is a worldwide problem. At the national level, rich countries and poor countries are unequal. According to the assessment of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in the late 1990s, in poor Bolivia, Dominica, Guatemala and Haiti, the undernourished population accounted for more than 20% of the total population, while in relatively rich Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, the figure was less than 5%. Domestically, the poor and the rich are unequal. On the one hand, the rich lose weight because of overnutrition, on the other hand, the poor die in the streets because of lack of food. Brazil is typical in this respect. As a grain exporter, Brazil's daily calorie consumption per capita is 3,000 kcal, which is 400 kcal more than the Latin American average. However, 65,438+00% of the population is malnourished, and 65,438+065,438+0% of children under five are stunted. [4] Faced with this reality, the Lula government formulated the "Zero Hunger Plan", which should be said to be timely and targeted.
Gender inequality and gender discrimination aggravate the poverty problem.
In human history, inequality between men and women has always existed, which stems from discrimination caused by gender differences in social culture and historical traditions of various countries. Latin America is no exception. There is also a serious waste of female human capital and various forms of discrimination against women. In fact, eliminating gender inequality plays an important role in reducing poverty, popularizing education, resisting the spread of AIDS and reducing maternal and child mortality.
In Latin America, the huge difference between men and women in employment and income is not only one of the signs of inequality, but also further strengthens inequality. On the one hand, although women are generally more educated than men, they are more likely to lose their jobs. From 1990 to 1999, the male unemployment rate increased by 2.9% and the female unemployment rate increased by 6. 1%. In 2002, 43% of women over 0/5 had no income, while only 22% of men had no income. On the other hand, equal pay for equal work between men and women is still a mirage, which is very different. From 65438 to 0999, the wage income of women was only about 75% of that of men, and the higher the education level, the greater the income gap between men and women. The above two factors make the poverty population of women higher than that of men. Most extremely poor families are female-headed families, such as single women, widows and single mothers. In 2002, a survey of 17 Latin American countries showed that the per capita income of female-led families was 94% of that of male-led families. In cities, 90% of female-led families are extremely poor, while only 13% of male-led families are extremely poor.