Brazil reduced food insecurity according to the UN, but celebration did not reach the edges of the city, where children, young people and the elderly continue to jump meals
In Brazil, it is measured by the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (Ebia). There are four levels, recorded in spreadsheets: food security means regular to appropriate access; In light insecurity, there is fear of missing food; In moderate, meals decrease; In severe, days without eating. It is technical. But deprivation also measures the echo in the refrigerator. For the control bodies, it is number. There is no face.
In the peripheries, territory formed by self -construction and absence of public infrastructure, the routine begins before the sun. The refrigerator door opens: two bottles of water, flour remains, an almost empty sugar jar and an egg. The scene represents 58.7% of the urban population with some degree of. Of these, 28.5 million are at the serious level. This is the case of Dona Izabel, who mixes sugar and water, serves the two children before school and calls breakfast. If the youngest does not complain, what is between the two is divided. She? Eat later, if you give. But as it is day, the meal is guaranteed. Full belly, at least that morning.
Brazil celebrated, and it was no longer without time, having left in 2024 – and rightly so. The celebration did not reach the edges of the city, where children, youth and the elderly continue to jump meals. In households headed by women, 20.8% faced mild food insecurity, 6.2% were moderate and 4.6% lived in a severe condition (Raseam 2025). Despite the aids, in homes headed by black women with children, such as Dona Izabel’s, covers only part of the cost of a basic basket. The rest comes from spun, favors or the ability to multiply the little.
Living away from the center makes everything more. The daily path to work can take up to three hours. If income comes from nozzles, temporary jobs or other revenues from informality, you may reach a minimum wage. Food insecurity is not just about supply, involves distance, transportation and availability of public services. When 26% of homes do not have regular water supply and 34% lack sewage collection, prepare rice is no longer a simple task and becomes logistics challenge.
In 2025, the food acquisition program foresees R $ 1 billion, but only 22% of municipalities participate in the National System of Food and Nutrition Security (Sisan). It means that governments do not mind turning politics into food on the table. For families like Dona Izabel’s, groceries come to reports rather than cookware, and the benefit is often not even requested.
Still, local initiatives emerge: community gardens, collective kitchens, food banks and exchange networks are born of the knowledge of those who live in these areas, building a network of local solutions that could gain more space in supply policies decisions. General policies do not always meet local realities.
Today’s scarcity shapes Brazil from 2030. Soon, the number of elderly will surpass that of children from zero to 14 years, according to the Ministry of Health. Each malnourished child will be an adult with less productive capacity in a country that will need to support an aged population. Overcoming food insecurity requires more than international indicators: It means recognizing that families who choose between transport and food live a present problem and unintentionally prepare a future crisis.
The challenge is not just to guarantee meals now, but build the human base of the country we want from 2030. This implies transforming the structures that maintain exclusion, understanding that if deprivation has address, name and surname, solutions also need to have. Time is short: the children who today face food shortage will be young people in 2030. What country are we choosing to build?
*This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the young Pan.
