Seeds for Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was the only region that achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people suffering from malnutrition between 1990 and 2015. However, since then, the region has experienced an increase in the number of people facing hunger. In fact, LAC went from having 38 million people suffering from hunger in 2014 to 42.5 million in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic and other recent crises have exacerbated this issue by increasing poverty and inequality, as well as generating inflationary pressures that have raised the cost of food. Currently, it is estimated that over 40% of the population in the region suffers from food insecurity, and 8.6% are in a state of hunger (FAO, 2022). To address this problem, it is crucial for governments in the region to implement agricultural and social development policies that promote resilient, sustainable, and inclusive food systems by addressing food insecurity in its four dimensions: availability, access, utilization, and stability of food.