The present paper evaluates the two approaches Fome Zero and Oportunidades of Brazil and Mexico as strategies to improve food security. The analysis shows that various significant differences but also similarities exist in the structures of both countries.
The Brazilian strategy, which was established in 2003, achieved exemplary good results in the fight against hunger and poverty because the food security strategy combines structural with emergency policies and includes various approaches in order to strengthen rural development. The extensive inclusion of family farmers for the supply of the national food demand keeps Brazil relatively independent from food imports and prevents the direct transmission of extreme international price fluctuations of essential food items to low-income households.
The good result in poverty alleviation in Brazil caused a significant strengthening of the people’s purchasing power and thus provoked an economic growth in recent years which exceeds the capacities of the prevailing infrastructure and leads to a high demand of natural resources. This current situation provokes an unsustainable development.
Mexico’s joining of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 confronted millions of farmers with cheap, subsidized corn which is imported from the United States. This situation weakened the agricultural food production in Mexico and caused a dependency on international food products. Extreme price shocks provoked a considerable increase in national poverty rates in recent years, especially among rural farmers.
The government’s efforts in poverty alleviation by the establishment of the Targeted and Conditional Cash Transfer Program (TCCTP) Oportunidades in 1997 are insufficient, because this strategy principally suppresses the consequences of poverty but does not counteract its most important reasons. Additionally, in Mexico, overweight is not recognized in a sufficient manner as part of food insecurity. Furthermore, the country shows fundamental deficiencies in rural development and in the provision of adequate infrastructure. Finally, the country lacks of exit strategies and thus prevents low-income families from getting out of poverty. In the end, within this paper a framework of eight essential steps of a food security strategy was elaborated, which is considered not to be country-specific and therefore be useful on an international level.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Framework
2.1 Definitions
2.1.1 Hunger, Undernourishment and Undernutrition
2.1.2 Poverty
2.1.3 Food Security: a Top-down Approach
2.1.4 Food Sovereignty: a Bottom-up Approach
2.2 Food Security and Anti-Poverty Policies
2.3 The Vicious Circle of Poverty and Hunger
2.3.1 Trade Liberalization as an External Influencing Factor to Poverty
2.3.1.1 Households
2.3.1.2 Distribution Channels
2.3.1.3 Factor Markets
2.3.1.4 Government
2.3.1.5 Risks and Vulnerability
2.3.1.6 Technology and Economic Growth
2.3.1.7 The Effects of Trade Liberalization on Inequality and Poverty
2.3.2 Deficits in Structure and Development as Internal Influencing Factors
3 Methodology
3.1 Country-Specific Analysis
3.1.1 Three Perspectives for the Analysis of Food Security and Poverty Structures
3.1.2 Addressing Poverty and Hunger
3.2 Evaluation: Eight Essential Steps for Strategies to Improve Food Security
3.2.1 Step One: Identification and Coverage of the Poor
3.2.2 Step Two: Country-specific Analysis of the Internal and the External Influencing Factors to Poverty
3.2.3 Step Three: Definition of Strategies for Cash Transfers and Social Assistances
3.2.4 Step Four: Definition of Strategies of Emergency
3.2.5 Step Five: Definition of Structural Strategies
3.2.6 Step Six: Definition of Exit Strategies
3.2.7 Step Seven: Evaluation of Efficiency and Sustainability
3.2.8 Step Eight: Establishment of an Efficient Change Management
4 Results
4.1 Brazil Actual State Analysis
4.1.1 Amount Perspective
4.1.1.1 Brazilian’s Food Production
4.1.1.2 Brazilian’s Import/Export Structure of Food
4.1.1.3 Family Farming
4.1.2 Access Perspective
4.1.2.1 National Structure of Poverty
4.1.2.2 Conditions of Food Insecurity
4.1.2.3 Poverty Structure in Rural Areas
4.1.3 Diet Perspective
4.1.3.1 Consumption Patterns and Malnutrition
4.1.3.2 Organic Agriculture
4.1.3.3 Water Access
4.1.4 Reasons for Poverty
4.1.4.1 First Reason for Poverty: Income and Land Concentration
4.1.4.2 Second Reason for Poverty: High Food Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
4.1.4.3 Third Reason for Poverty: Social Exclusion
4.1.5 Fome Zero and the National Food and Nutrition Security System and Policy (Pnsan)
4.1.5.1 The National Council on Food and Nutrition Security (Consea), the Interministerial Food and Nutrition Security Chamber (Caisan) & the National Conferences on Food and Nutritional Security (Cnsan)
4.1.5.2 Costs & Financing
4.1.5.3 Framework and Objectives
4.1.5.4 Counteracting Income and Land Concentration
4.1.5.5 Counteracting High Food Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
4.1.5.6 Counteracting Social Exclusion
4.1.5.7 A Brief Presentation of Fome Zeros’ and Pnsan’s Results
4.2 Mexico’s Actual State Analysis
4.2.1 Amount Perspective
4.2.1.1 Mexico’s Food Production
4.2.1.2 Mexico’s Import/Export Structure of Food
4.2.1.3 Mexican Farmers
4.2.2 Access Perspective
4.2.2.1 National Structure of Poverty
4.2.2.2 Poverty Structure in Rural Areas
4.2.2.3 Conditions of Food Insecurity
4.2.3 Perspective of Diet
4.2.3.1 Consumption Patterns and Malnutrition
4.2.3.2 Organic Agriculture
4.2.3.3 Water Access
4.2.4 Reasons for Poverty
4.2.4.1 First Reason for Poverty: Income & Land Concentration
4.2.4.2 Second Reason for Poverty: High Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
4.2.4.3 Third Reason for Poverty: Social Exclusion
4.2.5 Oportunidades – Objectives and Basic Foundations of Social Assistance
4.2.5.1 Background
4.2.5.2 Institutions
4.2.5.3 Costs & Financing
4.2.5.4 Oportunidades: Framework and Objectives
4.2.5.5 Counteracting Income and Land Concentration
4.2.5.6 Counteracting High Food Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
4.2.5.7 Counteracting Social Exclusion
4.2.5.8 A Brief Presentation of Oportunidades’ Results
5 Conclusions and Outlook
5.1 Step One: Identification and Coverage of the Poor
5.2 Step Two: Country-specific Analysis of the Internal and the External Influencing Factors to Poverty
5.3 Step Three: Definition of Strategies for Cash Transfers and Social Assistances
5.4 Step Four: Definition of Strategies of Emergency
5.5 Step Five: Definition of Structural Strategies
5.6 Step Six: Definition of Exit Strategies
5.7 Step Seven: Evaluation of Efficiency and Sustainability
5.8 Step Eight: Establishment of an Efficient Change Management
Objectives and Topics
This thesis examines the strategies Fome Zero (Brazil) and Oportunidades (Mexico) to improve food security and reduce poverty, identifying general factors that influence the success of such initiatives.
- Comparison of national economic, social, and environmental structures
- Evaluation of agricultural production and trade liberalization impacts
- Analysis of country-specific poverty conditions and drivers
- Development of a universal framework for food security strategies
Excerpt from the Book
2.3 The Vicious Circle of Poverty and Hunger
As mentioned before, poverty and hunger are two closely connected conditions of human being which interfere with each other, and therefore should be fought by a combination of adequate strategies. This is because extreme poverty and hunger are not coincidental phenomena (Takagi, 2011, p. 171). Studies indicate that “extreme poverty explains about half the differences observed in the magnitude of undernutrition in countries: 49% of the variation in the global undernutrition rate and 57% of the variation in moderate-serious chronic undernutrition among countries are attributed to differences in the percentage of extreme poverty” (Takagi, 2011, p. 172). That means that there are still other factors that contribute to extreme poverty and that just the increase in income of poor families often is not sufficient to overcome undernutrition.
Hunger, therefore, is not just the result of poverty but also of additional influencing factors such as the schooling of the mothers, the intra-household food distribution which often favors the children and puts especially the mothers at a disadvantage, the availability of social assistance, as well as cases in which people adapt to a lower caloric intake by reducing physical activity. Therefore, “fighting extreme poverty is a major requirement for reducing hunger” (Takagi, 2011, p. 172). But, “efforts to reduce it should not, alone, be expected to eradicate hunger in a reasonable deadline” (Takagi, 2011, p. 172). Otherwise, just giving people enough to eat is not sufficient to overcome extreme poverty. There are other factors that must be addressed such as access to drinking water and to sanitary installations, the availability of required health institutions and education concerning both hygiene and healthy food preparation, which maintains traditional food habits (Takagi, 2011, p. 172).
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: Provides an overview of the research, comparing the Brazilian and Mexican strategies for food security and poverty alleviation.
2 Theoretical Framework: Defines fundamental concepts such as hunger, poverty, and food security, and establishes the theoretical basis for analyzing their interconnections and the impact of trade liberalization.
3 Methodology: Outlines the research approach, including the three-perspective analysis (amount, access, diet) and the eight-step framework for evaluating anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs.
4 Results: Details the actual state analysis of Brazil and Mexico, examining production, access, and social factors before evaluating their specific government programs.
5 Conclusions and Outlook: Synthesizes findings by evaluating both programs against the established framework and provides policy recommendations for future food security strategies.
Keywords
Brazil, Mexico, Fome Zero, Oportunidades, Food Security, Poverty Reduction, Trade Liberalization, Hunger, Social Policy, Cash Transfers, Rural Development, Family Farming, Malnutrition, Food Sovereignty
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The research primarily evaluates the Brazilian "Fome Zero" and Mexican "Oportunidades" programs to determine their effectiveness as strategies to combat hunger and extreme poverty in their respective countries.
What are the primary areas of study addressed?
The study focuses on agricultural production, trade liberalization impacts, poverty structure, and the efficacy of government-led social assistance programs.
What is the ultimate objective of the thesis?
The goal is to examine country-specific improvements in food security and poverty reduction to derive general, actionable factors that can be used internationally to design more effective anti-hunger strategies.
Which methodology is applied to the evaluation?
The author uses a comparative approach based on an eight-step framework, which assesses programs across several phases including identification, coverage, and the integration of structural and emergency policies.
What aspects are covered in the main body?
The main body provides an in-depth analysis of national agricultural structures, the role of small-scale family farming, and how external factors like trade agreements and price fluctuations influence poverty.
How can this research be characterized by keywords?
The work is characterized by terms related to international development, food security, socioeconomic policy, and agricultural economic dynamics in Latin America.
How does the author characterize the "vicious circle" of poverty?
The author describes a reciprocal relationship where poverty limits productive capacities and causes hunger, while hunger and malnutrition in turn hinder personal development and economic productivity, reinforcing the cycle.
Why is the "diet perspective" significant in the evaluation?
The author argues that food security should include nutrition quality; as people rise from extreme poverty, they often shift to diets rich in industrialized, unhealthy foods, leading to new health issues like obesity and diabetes that programs must also address.
- Quote paper
- Julia Bultmann (Author), 2013, Evaluation of the Brazilian Fome Zero and the Mexican Oportunidades Anti-hunger Programs as Strategies to Improve Food Security, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/287145
