CAMBIOColombia, July 4, 2023
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
Nearly three out of every ten Colombian homes did not have enough money to be sure of three regular meals every day in 2022. La Guajira and Sucre were the departments with the most critical situation.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and Colombia’s Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) calculated that in 2022, 28.1 percent of the homes in this country were living with moderate or serious food insecurity. Among those, 4.9 percent were homes with serious food insecurity.
According to the two agencies, La Guajira and Chocó were the departments with the greatest prevalence of food insecurity, although measured by homes, the most precarious situations were in La Guajira and Cesar. The reason is that, in 2022, La Guajira reported food insecurity of 59.7 percent, while in Cesar, it was 47.9 percent. Chocó was the department with the fifth most food insecurity, with 43.2 percent of homes reporting that situation.
In contrast, Caldas was the department with the best food security in the country. Only 14.6 percent of homes there reported food insecurity last year. The others in the top five, in order, are as follows: San Andrés, Quindío, Risaralda, and Amazonas.
According to DANE, food insecurity increased as the number of members of the household increased. For example, in the national average, 24.1 percent of one-person homes reported food insecurity, while in homes with five persons, the indication of food insecurity was 39.7%. The percentage is also higher in rural areas.
“There is greater prevalence of food insecurity when there are children or people with disabilities, but the same thing doesn’t happen with the presence of elderly persons,” remarks the DANE.
Notably, the survey revealed that a home was more likely to experience food insecurity when the head of the family was female. In the national average, 30.9 percent of homes with female family heads experienced food insecurity, while only 25.9 percent of homes experienced food insecurity when the family was headed by a male.
And in a single-parent home with a female family head, food insecurity rises to 34.1%.
And in the urban parts of the municipalities, 29.6 percent of homes with a female head of family experienced food insecurity, versus 24.3 percent of families headed by a male.