TWN Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture
30 July 2025
Third World Network

https://ipes-food.org/brazil-beats-hunger/

IPES-Food Press Release, 28 July 2025

Brazil Beats Hunger

Today, Brazil is officially removed from the UN Hunger Map – after lifting over 40 million people out of food insecurity in just two years, the UN confirms. 

This historic achievement, driven by political choices that put family farmers and food access first, comes just months before the country welcomes world leaders to COP30. Brazil’s blueprint offers proof that a future free from hunger is not only possible, but within reach.

As hosts of COP30 in Belém, Brazil now sends a timely signal to world leaders that tackling hunger, inequality and climate crisis together is achievable and replicable – if they make the political choice to do so.

Brazil without hunger

Since taking office in 2023, Brazil’s government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made eradicating hunger its top priority, with a far-reaching program: “Brazil Sem Fome” (Brazil without hunger) centred on getting people access to good food. Its goals are to (1) get the country off the UN Hunger Map, (2) reduce food and nutrition insecurity (especially severe insecurity), and (3) cut poverty rates year on year.

Backed by more than 30 policies across ministries, the plan puts coordinated public action and civil society engagement at the centre of its national commitment.

The UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published Monday 28 July confirms that Brazil has met its first goal: removal from the FAO Hunger Map.

A historic achievement in just two years, after years of rising hunger. Undernourishment has now fallen below the reporting threshold. Rates had previously surged to 4.2% between 2020 and 2022, turning Brazil orange on the map.

What the latest UN figures say about Brazil 

• Undernourishment in Brazil has dropped below <2.5% – below the reporting threshold, and too low to appear on the UN Hunger Map. ‘Undernourishment’ means people lack calories for an active life.
• 14 million people have been lifted out of severe food insecurity – a two-thirds reduction, from 21.1 million (9.9%) in 2020–2022 to 7.1 million (3.4%) in 2022–2024. Over the same period, Brazil liberated more than 40 million people from moderate to severe food insecurity – reducing the number from 70.3 million (32.8%) in 2020–2022 to 28.5 million (13.5%) in 2022–2024. This marks one of the fastest and most significant declines in food insecurity ever recorded. People experiencing ‘severe food insecurity’ typically run out of food or go a day or more without eating. Those facing ‘moderate food insecurity’ regularly reduce the quality or quantity of their food, and live with uncertainty about their ability to access meals.
• The proportion of people unable to afford a healthy diet also fell, from a peak of 29.8% in 2021 to 23.7% in 2024.
• However, the report notes that the cost of a healthy diet continues to rise, underlining ongoing challenges around food affordability and inequality.

How Brazil beat hunger

With global food insecurity high and UN hunger goals dangerously off track – amid conflict, climate shocks and a spiralling cost of living – the success of Brazil Sem Fome offers both a wake-up call and a roadmap. It was achieved not through techno-fixes or increases to yields, but people-first policies to guarantee food access. Here’s how:

• Cash transfers to the most vulnerable families through the expansion of Bolsa Família.
• A universal school feeding programme, reaching all elementary and secondary school students with nutritious meals sourced from local and agroecological farmers – with expanded outreach to hospitals, military institutions and universities.
• An increase in the minimum wage.
• Public procurement from family farmers, including payments to small-scale and agroecological producers to supply schools and community kitchens.
• Support for farmers to transition to organic and agroecological production – helping to tackle climate change.
• Targeted support for black and Indigenous peoples to have access to public food purchases.
• Granting every Brazilian the human right to adequate food in national law.
• A Feeding Cities program, improving access to affordable food in urban areas by expanding local markets, public restaurants, and food banks.
• Unprecedented cross-government coordination – involving all ministries, all levels of government, and civil society – to align food, health, education, climate and poverty eradication goals.

“Brazil didn’t beat hunger by chance – this took concerted political action. We did it by putting people, family farmers, Indigenous and traditional communities, and access to good local food at the centre – and by including those most affected. In just two years, millions of children are no longer going to bed without the healthy food they need to grow. 

With Brazil leading COP30, the message is clear – tackling hunger, inequality and climate change go hand in hand. But the fight isn’t over. Food prices are rising and tariff threats are looming, so we must stay the course, because the cost of inaction is measured in lives.”

Elisabetta Recine, IPES-Food panel expert, and President of the Brazilian National Food and Nutrition Security Council (Consea), who advises the Lula government on its hunger policy

“Brazil’s incredible success shows no one needs to go hungry – that hunger is a choice. Ending hunger isn’t some technological puzzle. What works is backing family farmers over agribusiness, investing in school meals, public programmes, and access to food. These aren’t utopian ideals, they’re proven tools. The only question is, will other governments act with the same courage?”

Raj Patel, IPES-Food panel expert