The WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger Brazil participated in the Foro ABC Alimenta Madrid, an event that brought together specialists, associations and representatives from the food sector. Participants analysed the challenges faced by farmers in Spain and discussed trends in the food and nutrition sector, addressing changes in consumption habits and innovative solutions. Joelcio Carvalho, Project Officer at the WFP Centre of Excellence, closed the event.
In his speech, Joelcio Carvalho presented WFP’s global work in the distribution of food during emergencies, serving approximately 100 million people in more than 80 countries. He also recalled that there are 690 million hungry people currently in the world and mentioned the long-term impacts of hunger. “The consequences of a lack of food not only cause suffering, but also delay progress in many other areas of development, such as education and employment,” he said. He also spoke about the importance of valuing local agriculture and local purchases, allowing local production to be sold to school feeding programmes, for instance.
“It is important to point out that the pandemic has made it difficult for many countries to access local resources, so we see that there is a need to make resources and subsidies more flexible, in order to create new sales opportunities and positively impact the most vulnerable groups”, he added. Joelcio also spoke about examples of good practices in the Brazilian school feeding programme, which determines that at least 30% of what is served to children comes from family farming. Other speakers at the event included representatives of the European Commission, Comunidad de Madrid, committees and agricultural associations in Spain, journalists and chefs.