Food donations in Brazil plummeted 97% in Brazil, according to data from Ação da Cidadania, an NGO that, earlier this year, raised more than R$ 10 million per month. As of October, the organization started to receive around R$ 300 thousand, a reduction with negative effects for those who are hungry.
According to Rodrigo Kiko Afonso, executive director of Ação da Cidadania and working with a network of NGOs, movements and leaders from all over Brazil, food inflation and the rise in cooking gas contributed to worsen the situation of food donors .
Added to this, rice, beans and oil are some of the foods that have increased the most and, consequently, have reduced the purchasing power of the population that makes donations.
“These items have increased a lot. Add this to other products that Brazilians need to buy? Rice, beans and oil are essential, apart from protein and vegetables. Everything went up a lot”, says Rodrigo Kiko Afonso.
“In October, donations dropped precipitously. We look forward to receiving help in December because of the Christmas Without Hunger Campaign. We have a goal of 30 million in collection, the vast majority from companies”.
Another factor for the drop in donations, according to Ação da Cidadania, is people who went from being volunteers to being candidates for some kind of help.
The Citizenship Action centralizes the receipt of donations and then distributes them to the states. The executive director of the NGO explained that people will be hungry for a long time to come.
“The situation is very critical. Emergency Relief is over. We are in a limbo between Bolsa Família and Auxílio Brasil, which is still paying very few people. The situation tends to get worse at the end of the year and, as a result, donations can also be affected”, he says.
“People (donors) are seeing that Covid tends to cool down and think that hunger is ending too. This is a process that will take years. We cannot stop donating food”, warned Afonso.
Even with the drop in donations in recent months, the Citizenship Action registered an increase from 2,100 to 3,000 in institutions assisted by the NGO.
Reference: CNN Brasil
