Lupa do Bem interviews Cidinha Moura, from FASE: “Integrated action is needed to eradicate hunger”

Severe food insecurity fell by 85% in Brazil, according to the latest United Nations Report on the State of World Food Insecurity (SOFI 2024). In absolute numbers, this means that 14.7 million people left this condition last year, indicating that the country is one step closer from leaving the Hunger Map (Mapa da Fome) again. To understand what is at stake in the fight against hunger and what still needs to be done to guarantee the righteous access to food, we spoke with agronomist and activist Cidinha Moura, coordinator of FASE (Mato-Grossense Fund for Support to Seed Culture) [Fundo Mato-Grossense de Apoio à Cultura da Semente – Mato Grosso, in portuguese].

Founded in 1961 by Father Leising, the NGO is considered the oldest in Brazil. Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro and with regional units in six states, it works on causes such as the right to the city, environmental justice, food sovereignty and women. All these causes are connected to their initial objective, which is to promote food security for populations in the countryside and in the city. 

Lupa do Bem: You mentioned that FASE arose from the work that Father Leising did with communities in need, by observing what they needed. After more than 60 years of experience, what is the lesson learned from this experience?

Cidinha Moura: We at FASE always value discussion with the populations with whom we work, ask for their demands and carry out participatory planning. And since Father Leising was born, he has been very concerned about people’s lives, both in the city and in the countryside, with a focus on the issue of hunger. FASE also listens to its partners, because we do not work alone, but along with other organizations. We did a lot of campaigning with Betinho in the past. And over this time, we sometimes changed our programs, but this concern for helping communities in need continues, to combat hunger and to seek, along with other organizations, to alleviate this issue. 

So we are often asked why we work with agroecological production today, as if we were just concerned about having poison-free food. This is that moment when we stop and ask: who is this food for? At the same time, we also need to denounce those who are bringing hunger to communities. For example, here in the case of Mato Grosso, many places suffer from hunger because of problems generated by agribusiness. In the Amazon, with mining. Even in Bahia and Espírito Santo, we need to combat the green desert, which is taking people out of communities to plant eucalyptus and other species for paper production.

LB: But in addition to this grassroots action, we see that FASE also does a lot of political advocacy, trying to mobilize instances of power… 

Yes, definitely! When Maria Emília Lisboa Pacheco went to the National Food Security Council [Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar – Consea], for example, we decided to bring our contribution, to talk about the issue of traditional populations, the importance of defending territories for the permanence of communities, because there is no demarcation of indigenous lands, nor titling of quilombola lands… 

Also to discuss agroecology, violence against women, because as we always say, there is no point in producing healthy food if it still contains women’s blood. This is very strong, but it needs to be said, because we know that women in situations of violence often end up leaving rural areas, going to the city and becoming food insecure. 

So, at a national level, we are in Consea, which is an advisory council, that is, it takes recommendations to the presidency of the republic. We are also in the Brazilian Food Security Forum and the National Agroecology Articulation (Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Alimentar e na Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia). We actively participate in these spaces for discussion about policies that contribute to reducing hunger in Brazil. 

We talked about the importance of returning to policies with a budget, thinking about structuring policies, and also policies that will strengthen the farmers who are in the field, in the association, even the extractivists, so that this will improve food, both for them to consume and to sell. Our action has been more in this direction.

LB: What does it take to fight hunger? In 2014, for example, Brazil left the Hunger Map for the first time since it was established. But we saw that the pandemic, combined with the measures adopted by the former Bolsonaro government, pushed 33 million Brazilians into a situation of hunger again, causing the country to return to the Map… 

After these two years of Lula’s government, we began to observe that, where the Food Acquisition Program (Programa de Aquisição de Alimento – PAA) had arrived, where the water cistern projects had arrived, where there was technical assistance — as was the case in the Northeast of Brazil, which had credit in public policy —, hunger decreased. And we do a lot of this consultancy here at FASE so that organizations, such as associations and cooperatives, can access these policies. So we saw up close that, wherever this resource from public policy programs reaches, there is in fact an improvement in the quality of life of these people. They begin to have access to income. 

But it is important to remember that, for this to happen, all ministries must act together. The Ministry of Social Development (Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social), the Ministry of Health (Ministério da Saúde) and the Ministry of Education (Ministério da Educação) carried out an integrated action. In short, there is hunger when there is a lack of public policies with a budget, which guarantee technical assistance, infrastructure, and logistics. 

And when it comes to consultancy, it needs to be in the field of popular education, knowing how to reach these communities, gaining the trust of these people to formulate projects that are really designed by them. It’s what they want to sell, what they can produce, and not what technicians think is best for them. Ultimately, you need to respect their knowledge. 

And, of course, good municipal managers are needed, because there are still many managers who are prejudiced against farmers, who do not recognize their rights to access these policies. They treat farmers like poor things, then when election time comes, they decide to help punctually, but don’t include farmers in policies aimed at continuity. 

Another point is the issue of education. Many rural schools are closing and farmers’ children no longer want to stay in the fields. As education is not focused on the countryside, oftentimes a professor  will argue that young people need to study to change their lives, leave the countryside, to ‘become someone in life’. Young people do need to study, but they should also be able to stay in the countryside, to have their demands met locally. So, this issue of education takes young people out of the countryside, and without this workforce, food production also falls. As a result, the price of food in cities increases. And today the majority of the population is living in cities. For these reasons, we still see many families in a situation of hunger, even though they have access to Bolsa Família (a program in which qualifying Brazilian families receive a small monthly cash transfer in exchange for keeping children in school and taking them to regular health checks).

LB: President Lula has just launched the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty at the G20. Despite this, I notice that the fight against hunger has no longer been mobilizing public opinion, which is now focused on the issue of climate change, for example. But we know that there are many hungry people, including many farmers. Why did hunger stop raising awareness in society? 

Exactly. Sometimes we go to rural communities and see that retirees are responsible for feeding the entire family. They buy food with their retirement money, often buying food even for their children and grandchildren who live in the city and who are unemployed, or they don’t receive enough to buy food. And then they end up buying a lot of ultra-processed foods, because they are cheaper. 

That’s why we always talk about the importance of programs becoming public policies with continuity. Because when the government changes, the deputies don’t approve the budget, so the program is there, but there’s no money. And today, when we talk about hunger in congress, they say it’s a left-wing thing. 

In fact, in several spaces, when we talk about food security, I hear people say ‘Ah, here you come with that talk’. In other words, they do not want to discuss policies that will end hunger because it is in people’s interests to continue depending on basic food baskets, which will be donated at very specific times, such as during elections, for example.

LB: The very issue of environmental degradation and climate change, in some way, is also connected with hunger… We experienced extreme weather events in Brazil this year. First, with the rains in Rio Grande do Sul, then with the drought and fires that occurred in a large part of the country a few months ago… 

Yes! We discussed this recently here in Cuiabá, due to the elections. What to do in a state where we are suffering more and more from the consequences of deforestation every day? The rivers are drying up, the temperatures here are already high, but sometimes they are five degrees above average, making it inhospitable. The issue of climate change is making food production very difficult, even in indigenous and quilombola lands, since there is no way to produce food without water. The indigenous people of some territories, for example, should be protected with the rivers, with the forest, but the springs are in soybean and cotton fields, pesticides poison the rivers and people. There is aerial spraying… 

Now, with the fires, there was no seed left to plant the next crop, everything was burned. All of this will lead to a decrease in food production. This is where the importance of ensuring a good budget for public policies to encourage production, to create vegetable gardens and fields, comes into play. The Food Acquisition Program (Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos – PAA), for example, needs to have a bigger budget so that it includes all families that want to participate and that meet the criteria, and not just a few are selected.

LB: Finally, what is the impact of FASE’s contribution to promoting food sovereignty in Brazil? 

We always say that our work is done with one foot on the territory and the other in public spaces and forums to discuss things. Because there’s no way to go to a council without knowing what’s happening at the base. For example, going to a discussion at the National Commission for REDD+ (CONAREDD – Comissão Nacional para REDD+) without knowing who is suffering from the climate crisis. So, if I go to a discussion about women in the National Agroecology Association (ANA – Associação Nacional de Agroecologia) working group, for example, when it’s possible, we take women farmers so they can speak for themselves. And us too, when we participate in a discussion space, we always take what we hear from the territories so that, when we discuss a strategy, it really meets what is being demanded in the territory. 

At Consea, for example, when we discussed the composition of the new basic basket, we took into account the importance of having a budget for the PAA. We also reported that ultra-processed foods were arriving to the Yanomami, the recommendation was made and soon after the indigenous people themselves said that it had improved. This is a very important space, because the president listens to the council, the general secretariat and the ministers pay attention to the council. 

Want to support this cause? 

FASE operates in six states: Pará, Pernambuco, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso and Rio de Janeiro. The NGO operates through notices, international cooperation and donations. 

Furthermore, it has two funds that finance actions across the country: the Fundo DEMA, created in the Amazon, and the Fundo SAAP, in Rio de Janeiro. For more information, visit their website and follow them on social media on Instagram and Linkedin.