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.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Theoretical Framework
- Definitions
- Hunger, Undernourishment and Undernutrition
- Poverty
- Food Security: a Top-down Approach
- Food Sovereignty: a Bottom-up Approach
- Food Security and Anti-Poverty Policies
- The Vicious Circle of Poverty and Hunger
- Trade Liberalization as an External Influencing Factor to Poverty
- Deficits in Structure and Development as Internal Influencing Factors
- Definitions
- Methodology
- Country-Specific Analysis
- Three Perspectives for the Analysis of Food Security and Poverty Structures
- Addressing Poverty and Hunger
- Evaluation: Eight Essential Steps for Strategies to Improve Food Security
- Step One: Identification and Coverage of the Poor
- Step Two: Country-specific Analysis of the Internal and the External Influencing Factors to Poverty
- Step Three: Definition of Strategies for Cash Transfers and Social Assistances
- Step Four: Definition of Strategies of Emergency
- Step Five: Definition of Structural Strategies
- Step Six: Definition of Exit Strategies
- Step Seven: Evaluation of Efficiency and Sustainability
- Step Eight: Establishment of an Efficient Change Management
- Country-Specific Analysis
- Results
- Brazil Actual State Analysis
- Amount Perspective
- Brazilian's Food Production
- Brazilian's Import/Export Structure of Food
- Family Farming
- Access Perspective
- National Structure of Poverty
- Conditions of Food Insecurity
- Poverty Structure in Rural Areas
- Diet Perspective
- Consumption Patterns and Malnutrition
- Organic Agriculture
- Water Access
- Reasons for Poverty
- First Reason for Poverty: Income and Land Concentration
- Second Reason for Poverty: High Food Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
- Third Reason for Poverty: Social Exclusion
- Fome Zero and the National Food and Nutrition Security System and Policy (Pnsan)
- 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)
- Costs & Financing
- Framework and Objectives
- Counteracting Income and Land Concentration
- Counteracting High Food Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
- Counteracting Social Exclusion
- A Brief Presentation of Fome Zeros' and Pnsan's Results
- Amount Perspective
- Mexico's Actual State Analysis
- Amount Perspective
- Mexico's Food Production
- Mexico's Import/Export Structure of Food
- Mexican Farmers
- Access Perspective
- National Structure of Poverty
- Poverty Structure in Rural Areas
- Conditions of Food Insecurity
- Perspective of Diet
- Consumption Patterns and Malnutrition
- Organic Agriculture
- Water Access
- Reasons for Poverty
- First Reason for Poverty: Income & Land Concentration
- Second Reason for Poverty: High Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
- Third Reason for Poverty: Social Exclusion
- Oportunidades - Objectives and Basic Foundations of Social Assistance
- Background
- Institutions
- Costs & Financing
- Oportunidades: Framework and Objectives
- Counteracting Income and Land Concentration
- Counteracting High Food Prices and Food Price Fluctuations
- Counteracting Social Exclusion
- A Brief Presentation of Oportunidades' Results
- Amount Perspective
- Brazil Actual State Analysis
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This thesis examines the Brazilian Fome Zero and Mexican Oportunidades anti-hunger programs as strategies to improve food security. Its main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs in tackling poverty and hunger within their respective countries.The key themes explored in the thesis are:
- The definition and challenges of food security and poverty
- The impact of trade liberalization on poverty and food security
- The role of structural deficits in exacerbating poverty and hunger
- An in-depth analysis of the Fome Zero and Oportunidades programs, including their objectives, implementation strategies, and outcomes
- A comparative evaluation of the two programs based on a framework of eight essential steps for improving food security
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The thesis begins with an introduction outlining the importance of food security and the challenges faced by Brazil and Mexico in addressing poverty and hunger. Chapter 2 provides a theoretical framework, defining key concepts like hunger, poverty, food security, and food sovereignty. It examines the complex interplay between poverty and hunger, highlighting the role of trade liberalization and structural deficiencies. Chapter 3 lays out the methodology used to analyze the effectiveness of the programs, emphasizing a country-specific approach and outlining eight critical steps for evaluating food security strategies. Chapters 4.1 and 4.2 delve into the actual state analyses for Brazil and Mexico, respectively. These chapters provide a detailed examination of their food production, import/export structures, poverty structures, and reasons for poverty. They then explore the Fome Zero and Oportunidades programs, analyzing their objectives, implementation strategies, and outcomes in relation to the identified challenges.Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
This thesis focuses on the critical concepts of food security, poverty, trade liberalization, and structural deficits, as well as the evaluation of anti-hunger programs. It examines the Fome Zero program in Brazil and the Oportunidades program in Mexico, highlighting their impact on addressing poverty, hunger, and improving food security. The analysis uses a comparative framework that considers a range of factors, including income concentration, land distribution, food prices, and social exclusion.- 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
