There is a famine in the Americas and the Caribbean, says the United Nations, with nearly one-third of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean affected and at least 21 million people in the region struggling to get enough to eat.
In fact, more than 80 percent of the regions food problem comes from internal conflict, with political upheaval and economic turmoil leaving an estimated 15 million people in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela struggling with hunger, according to a new report issued by the United Nations.
The U.N. also says that the situation is getting worse. Last month, President Donald Trump approved $6.5 billion for food programs for food security and nutrition initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the agency says that the aid has been “so grossly inadequate” that it is “meant to mitigate an already disastrous situation, not to address its permanent structural causes.”
Since 2007, the region’s food safety has suffered from “legal loopholes and financial incentives for unregulated or unhealthy marketing,” the report says. Furthermore, it notes that countries such as Panama, Nicaragua, and Honduras have an “inability to implement food safety standards to protect their populations from unsafe food and unsafe practices” in violation of human rights and international treaties.
After analyzing available information the U.N. concludes that rising incomes in the region have not led to sustainable agricultural growth that would sustain the populations. The report highlights that the high levels of malnutrition and food waste are linked to a range of factors including failure to produce nutritious foods for people, insufficient access to fresh water, and the incomplete use of processed and preserved foods in markets.
Read the full report here.
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