Initiatives came by participants of the general commission that discussed this scenario in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies.

According to 2020 data from the Brazilian Research Network on Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security, as many as 19 million Brazilians starve.

In 2018, there were 10.3 million in this situation, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Such figures were cited by several attendees, in which experts and lawmakers warned that 59.3% of Brazilians (125.6 million) have not eaten in ideal quantity and quality since the Covid-19 outbreak.

In a speech read in plenary by deputy Roberto de Lucena, the President of Lower House Arthur Lira pointed out that hunger returned to Brazil at the same levels observed in 2004 by the IBGE.

He explained that hunger issue is not associated with shortage of food, since agribusiness and family farming continue producing, but to social context, with the fall in employment and income as well as increased inflation.

pgh/Pll/jha / ocs