Food solidarity has increased during the pandemic

During the radio interview with Manos Unidas on Capital Radio, Atalayar had the opportunity to speak with Encarni Escobar, representative of the humanitarian organization, about the situation of hunger in the world after the coronavirus pandemic.

October 16 is World Food Day, sponsored by the FAO. The theme of this day is "cultivating, nurturing and preserving together". It is about ensuring that the food system is supported by a wide variety of foods to nourish a growing population and preserve the planet. "Preserving the planet together" is like the 'late motive' of the campaign this year.

We are pleased to be able to contact Encarni Escobar, from the projects area of Manos Unidas. The organization has produced a report denouncing the general indifference of the international community to the reality that more than one billion people affected by poverty live. This is reflected in the problem of access to food..

Yes, indeed. Tomorrow is World Food Day. Eating, for us, is an everyday, common thing that we have access to every day. But yet, as you say, 1.3 billion people are affected by poverty around the world. And of these people, over 690 million are food insecure or chronically hungry.

This is a very dramatic reality, because since 2014 we have seen the number of hungry people rise.

Well, with the global pandemic these numbers will rise and may get worse.

Yes, of course. There are forecasts that say: because of the pandemic, possibly more than 100 million people will be added to these figures that we have mentioned. 

They will also go hungry because of causes directly related to the pandemic: job losses, loss of livelihoods...

The situation is tremendous, progress is still very slow and insufficient and the objectives are to eradicate poverty in those countries and continents where it manifests itself as a deeper and more dramatic reality. Because the direct consequence of poverty is hunger or difficult access to food.

Indeed. Manos Unidas has been working for more than 60 years in the fight against poverty. We do this through two means: on the one hand through education for development (above all within Spanish society) and for that we believe that we all have a very important role. This is what we make known in our awareness campaigns in Spain and in the impact we can achieve.

It is important that each one of us becomes aware of the reality of other countries in this world and that we can change our consumption habits and way of life by being more responsible and sharing this responsibility with all the people who inhabit this planet.

It is important that we realize that many details of our daily lives affect the climate, the destruction of the environment and this has consequences in other more impoverished countries that suffer the consequences of our actions. The waste of food that any family can do without intention or without realizing it also has consequences.

One part of our fight is to raise awareness among the Spanish population, so that they realize that with our behavior we can contribute to reducing the poverty of other people in other parts of the world. 

It is clear that with very small decisions on a daily basis we can end hunger and poverty in the world. The pandemic is resulting in fewer and fewer rich people who are richer and many poorer. How can Manos Unidas make governments aware of this gap?

This is something very important and we try to put a lot of emphasis on it. It's amazing how exactly, as you were saying, there are less and less rich people but more and more rich people. The root of this whole problem of hunger and poverty is inequality.

This is something that we have to tackle together by realising it first, and then promoting the best distribution of resources.

In the countries we work in (over 50 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia) we promote projects with maximum equality between all participants, we fight to protect land grabbing.

In these countries there are many cases of large companies fighting with unequal forces. Large companies with a lot of power that monopolize the lands of indigenous peoples who have very few means to defend those lands, apart from their legitimate possession since the years of the These populations live off that land, off the rivers that pass by, fish and eat sin, and cultivate... They have no other resources other than those the land gives them.

In Peru, Ecuador and Brazil in the Amazon we work on land rights with these indigenous populations.

With confinement, people have learned or rediscovered the importance of food. Knowing how to eat well, not to waste... Do you think that once confinement is over these wasteful habits will continue? Is the fact that the World Food Programme has received the World Peace Prize a boost to you and your work

Well, look, I hope that confinement and the pandemic, and all that we have experienced in general because of this health crisis, will help us to draw out sustainable and real learning. This is a good opportunity to learn many things. On this subject that we are talking about, we do hope that consumption habits are rationalised and that we have realised what we really need (which is sometimes not as much as we used to consume) and what is really important.

We have noticed from Manos Unidas that the solidarity of many people during the pandemic has increased. We are very grateful for this because the need and demand to support projects in the countries where we work has increased.

As for the Nobel Peace Prize that the World Food Programme has just received... Well, it is a recognition that, in general, exemplifies that this humanitarian work is essential in times as hard as the one we are living in. It is a recognition of the understanding that, in part, this is everyone's responsibility. 

We cannot close our eyes to the harsh reality that over 690 million people are chronically hungry. We have to be aware and each one of us must do our bit.

On the other hand, Manos Unidas has acted in the health and social emergency during the pandemic by supporting many emergency food projects and strengthening many institutions in the field of health. 

Now we are trying to resume our path of more sustainable development and supporting our local partners with whom we always work on sustainable development and who are being affected by the coronavirus.