At a government meeting in Brazil celebrating the country’s removal from the United Nations’ “Hunger Map,” President Lula recalled the hardships of hunger he had personally experienced, breaking down in tears on multiple occasions. Looking back to November 2022, when he was still the president-elect, he had also shed tears on the podium while promising in a speech to “ensure every Brazilian has enough to eat.”
Lula’s tears reflect the deep scars behind Brazil, an agricultural powerhouse: why does hunger persist on this fertile land? This is not merely an “internal crisis” for Brazil but also mirrors the systemic challenges in global food distribution governance.
Lula’s political career has always been closely tied to the fight against hunger. During his first presidential term in 2003, he launched the ambitious “Zero Hunger Program.” This was not merely food aid but a comprehensive social reform initiative—providing cash transfers to poor families, supporting family farming development, and increasing investments in education and healthcare. These measures balanced “blood transfusion” with “blood production,” aiming to enhance the self-reliance of the poor and address the root causes of hunger.
The “Zero Hunger Program” achieved remarkable results, with Brazil exiting the United Nations “Hunger Map” for the first time in 2014, becoming a global benchmark in the fight against hunger. However, this success was short-lived. Subsequent economic crises, political turmoil, and sharp reductions in public spending led to a rapid reversal of anti-hunger achievements. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the situation, severely disrupting supply chains and household incomes, causing Brazil’s food insecurity issues to deteriorate sharply. In 2021, the country reluctantly returned to the “Hunger Map.”
Facing this “unthinkable” hunger crisis, Lula, in his third term beginning in 2023, once again made hunger eradication a core priority, launching the “Hunger-Free Brazil Plan.” The plan builds on and refines past successful experiences, reorganizes the national food security system, strengthens coordination between federal, state, and municipal levels, and adjusts the eligibility criteria for family assistance programs. These relentless efforts have borne fruit: According to the United Nations’ latest report in July this year, Brazil has once again exited the “hunger map,” with the proportion of severely food-insecure people dropping from 4.2% in 2022 to 2.8% in 2023, and further decreasing to 1.2% in 2024.
Brazil is endowed with abundant agricultural resources and is the world’s largest producer and exporter of soybeans, coffee, meat, and other agricultural products. In theory, such a nation should not have to worry about “food security.” However, as former FAO Director-General Graziano pointed out, Brazil’s paradox lies in the fact that “the shelves are full, but the shopping carts are empty.” The crux of the issue lies not in the total food supply but in the distribution mechanism. Brazilian historian Josué de Castro once pointed out that Brazil’s hunger is an “endogenous crisis,” rooted in “severe wealth concentration and appalling policy inaction.”
Brazil’s prevalent “large-scale landownership system” has allowed a small number of wealthy individuals to monopolize the majority of arable land, not only leading to low land utilization rates but also resulting in vast tracts of fertile soil lying fallow. This legacy of colonial history has made it difficult for small-scale farmers and ordinary citizens to secure their livelihoods through land ownership. The elite class, which holds land and capital, adheres to the principle of “family before nation,” with agricultural production long oriented toward serving the international market, focusing on exports of cash crops like soybeans and coffee. While this generates substantial foreign exchange income, it squeezes the survival space of “small-scale farmers” producing grain for the domestic market—who are precisely the core force ensuring 70% of the country’s grain supply and implementing anti-poverty policies. When international market demand is strong, capital flows toward export-oriented agriculture, leading to restricted domestic grain production, rising prices, and ultimately making food unaffordable for low-income families.
When launching the “Zero Hunger Program,” Lula set the tone: combating hunger is first and foremost a political choice, requiring the “political decision to include the poor in the national budget.” By increasing public spending and social welfare, establishing a mechanism to balance interests between “large-scale agriculture” and “smallholder farmers,” and narrowing the wealth gap, the government aimed to alleviate “structural hunger.” Lula’s government demonstrated that with firm political will and effective policy combinations, overcoming hunger is not an unattainable goal.
Since 2015, global hunger has not only failed to decrease but has worsened, with over 500 million people expected to face chronic food insecurity by 2030. The Lula administration believes that eliminating hunger and poverty is a common challenge for the Global South, requiring a unified platform to share experiences and coordinate actions. Therefore, during its tenure as the rotating chair of the Group of Twenty (G20) in 2024, Brazil actively promoted the establishment of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, which has garnered support from over 80 countries, including China, and multiple international organizations. Lula has repeatedly emphasized in international forums: “Hunger is not a natural phenomenon; eliminating hunger requires political decision-making.”
From sorrow to relief, Lula’s two instances of shedding tears vividly depict Brazil’s painful, resilient, and hopeful struggle against hunger. These tears not only reflect his personal hardships but also embody his deep concerns for the nation’s future and his unwavering pursuit of a more equitable world.
