Food Security and coexistence with the semiarid zone in areas affected by drought in the backlands of Pernambuco

FIGUEIREDO, Amanda Tayná Tavares de; TAVARES, Fernanda Cristina de Lima Pinto; AMORIM, Thalita Milena Araújo Xavier de; OLIVEIRA, Juliana Souza; LEAL, Vanessa Sá; LIRA, Pedro Israel Cabral de

doi:10.1590/1678-9865202134200299

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ORIGINAL • Rev Nutr 34 • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-9865202134200299 copy

Food Security and coexistence with the semiarid zone in areas affected by drought in the backlands of Pernambuco

Segurança Alimentar e convivência com o semiárido em áreas afetadas pela seca no sertão de Pernambuco

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objective

Between 2010 and 2017, it was registered one of the most intense droughts in the Brazilian Northeastern Semiarid region, when the rainfall was below the historical level for the region. This context was related to water scarcity for human consumption and productive activities in this territory, where the semiarid backlands of the state of Pernambuco are located. The objective of this study was to assess the condition of food security and its associated factors in areas affected by drought in the semiarid zone of Pernambuco, Brazil.

Methods

It was a cross-sectional study on a populational base. Data were collected by socioeconomic and demographic surveys, and the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale, which were applied to 252 households, from September to October 2015. The data was analyzed by socioeconomic and demographic characterization of the households, and the identification of the food insecurity prevalence and its associated factors, by Poisson regression.

Results

The prevalence of food insecurity was high (74.6%). Among those, 9,1% were on starvation, which means severe insecurity. Food insecurity was statistically associated to sanitation, per capita income, and the number of household residents. Lack of money was the main self-reported cause to food insecurity.

Conclusion

The high prevalence of food insecurity being associated to indicators of great social vulnerability shows the role of social and economic inequities on the inadequate access to food amongst families in the semiarid zone on a nearly generalized low-income context. These findings corroborate to the evident need of expanding and reinforcing public policies, as well sustainable development models to prioritize and promote social inclusion of communities at greater vulnerabilities in the Brazilian semiarid area. Thus, the need of these economic and social public strategies is highlighted by the worsening of historical vulnerable conditions due to the cycles of droughts on this region.

Keywords
Droughts; Food and Nutrition Security; Public Policy; Regional Development; Semiarid Zone

Specifications		n	%
Food security classification (n=252)
	Food security	64	25.4
	Food insecurity	188	74.6
	Mild	84	33.3
	Moderate	81	32.1
	Severe	23	9.1
Self-reported food quality
	Very good	3	1.2
	Good	119	47.2
	Regular	122	48.4
	Bad	5	2.0
	Very bad	3	1.2
Self-reported reasons for food insecurity (n=188)
	Lacked money for food	164	87.2
	Lack of variety of the food of my preference at the food outlet	57	30.3
	I am/we are in debt, have no credit	39	20.7
	There was no gas, firewood, or alcohol to cook	34	18.1
	It is exceedingly difficult to get to the market/fair/warehouse/outlet	32	17.0
	Lack of sufficient food production to my/our livelihood	29	15.4
	There was no water to cook	15	8.0
	Health problems prevented me from cooking or eating	6	3.2
	Had no time to go shopping or to cook	5	2.7
	I am/we are on a special diet	5	2.7
Participation in government programs (n=252)
	Families registered in social programs	173	68.7
	Families not registered in social programs	79	31.3
Government programs (n=173)
	Bolsa Família Program ^a a Family Allowance Program: direct income transfer with conditionalities, aimed at families in situations of poverty and extreme poverty;	159	91.9
	Cistern program ^b b National program to support the capture of rainwater and other social technologies for access to water, carried out by municipal governments in partnership with civil society entities;	21	12.1
	Milk/Food Distribution Program (with the consumer as the main beneficiary) ^c c Purchasing program by the federal government, aiming to promote access to food and encourage family farming, which provides for the purchase, by the state, of family farmers’ production (with the producer as the main beneficiary) to be destined for people in a situation of food and nutritional insecurity (with the consumer as the main beneficiary), including a modality to stimulate milk production and consumption;	17	9.8
	Others	16	9.2
	Food basket (with the consumer as the main beneficiary) ^c c Purchasing program by the federal government, aiming to promote access to food and encourage family farming, which provides for the purchase, by the state, of family farmers’ production (with the producer as the main beneficiary) to be destined for people in a situation of food and nutritional insecurity (with the consumer as the main beneficiary), including a modality to stimulate milk production and consumption;	4	2.3
	National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (rural credit) ^d d Funding costs and investments aimed at supporting agricultural and non-agricultural activities of family farmers, in order to generate income and qualify family members;	4	2.3
	Continuous Cash Benefit Program ^e e Payment of a monthly minimum salary for elderly and/or disabled people, whose per capita monthly family income is less than ¼ of the minimum salary [45-47].	3	1.7
	Food Acquisition Program (with the producer as the main beneficiary) ^c c Purchasing program by the federal government, aiming to promote access to food and encourage family farming, which provides for the purchase, by the state, of family farmers’ production (with the producer as the main beneficiary) to be destined for people in a situation of food and nutritional insecurity (with the consumer as the main beneficiary), including a modality to stimulate milk production and consumption;	2	1.2

Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the household		Food security situation
		Total ^a a Data column referring to the characterization of the sample. Variables with an n-value below the total due to the absence of data		Food security		Mild FI ^b b FI: Food insecurity;		Moderate or severe FI
		n=252	%	n=64	%	n=84	%	n=104	%
Situation ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Urban	140	56.0	48	34.3	47	33.6	45	32.1
	Rural	110	44.0	15	13.6	37	33.6	58	52.7
Territory ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Conventional	218	86.5	63	28.9	67	30.7	88	40.4
	Quilombo/ Settlement ^c c Settlement: n=1; %=0.4;	34	13.5	1	2.9	17	50.0	16	47.1
Color of the head of the family ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	White	58	23.0	23	39.7	16	27.6	16	32.8
	Brown/Black/Yellow/Indigenous ^d d Brown: n=172; Black: n=16; Yellow: n=4; Indigenous: n=1;	193	77.0	41	21.2	67	34.7	85	44.0
Sex of the head of the family ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Male	187	74.5	51	27.3	65	34.8	71	49.7
	Female	64		13	20.3	18	28.1	33	51.6
Educational level of the head of the family (years) ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Up to 4 years/Do not know	108	43.0	22	20.4	40	37.0	46	42.6
	Between 5 and 8 years	71	28.3	18	25.4	18	25.4	35	49.3
	9 or more years	72	28.7	24	33.3	25	34.7	23	31.9
Occupation of the head of the family ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Legal worker	39	15.5	13	33.3	17	43.6	9	23.1
	Retired/ Beneficiary of social program/ Pensioner	47	18.7	20	42.6	12	25.5	15	31.9
	Self-employed(urban or rural)	52	20.7	13	25.0	18	34.6	21	40.4
	Informal worker	84	33.5	13	15.5	23	27.4	48	57.1
	Does not work/ Unemployed	29	11.6	5	17.2	13	44.8	11	37.9
Per capita income ^e e Minimum Salary: BRL=788.00; USD=235.93; ^, ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Up to 1/4 minimum salary	124	50	17	13.7	42	33.9	65	52.4
	Between 1/4 and 1/2 minimum salary	77	31.0	21	27.3	31	40.3	25	32.5
	More than 1/2 minimum salary	47	18.9	26	55.3	9	19.1	12	25.5
Per capita income ^f f Classification criteria by the Ministry of Social Development in the implementation of the Bolsa Família Program in 2015: Extreme Poverty: Per capita income <77.00; Poverty: Per capita income 77-154.00; ^, ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Extreme poverty/ Poverty	89	35.9	91	10.1	27	30.3	53	59.6
	Above poverty	159	64.1	55	34.6	55	34.6	49	30.8
Bolsa Família Program ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Family enrolled	159	63.1	29	18.2	51	32.1	79	49.7
	Family not enrolled	93	36.9	35	37.6	33	35.5	25	26.9
Number of household residents ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Up to 3 residents	85	33.7	28	32.9	30	35.3	27	31.8
	4 residents	73	29.0	22	30.1	21	28.8	30	41.1
	5 or more residents	94	37.3	14	14.9	33	35.1	47	50
Production of food ² 2 Chi-square: p<0.10;
	Plants and/or animals	63	25.0	13	20.6	28	44.4	22	34.9
	Does not plant and does not have animals	189	75.0	51	27.0	56	29.6	82	43.4
Access to piped water ² 2 Chi-square: p<0.10;
	Plumbing within the household	190	75.4	53	27.9	56	29.5	81	42.6
	Plumbing until the front yard/No access	62	24.6	11	17.7	28	45.2	23	37.1
Water supply ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Main supply system	159	63.1	49	30.8	49	30.8	61	38.4
	Cistern/Well/Others	93	36.9	15	16.1	35	37.6	43	46.2
Drinking water ³ 3 Chi-Square: p<0.20.
	Boiled/Filtered/Mineral	113	44.8	32	28.3	35	31.0	46	40.7
	Strained/Untreated/Other	139	55.2	32	23.0	49	35.3	58	41.7
Wastewater destination ¹ 1 Chi-square: p<0.05;
	Public sanitation system	157	75.4	55	35.0	48	30.6	54	34.4
	Sump/Water streams/Others/Do not know	95	24.6	9	9.5	36	37.9	50	52.6

Variables		Total	FI ^a a FI: Food Insecurity (mild+moderate + severe);		Prevalence Ratios ^b b Poisson Regression Analysis, PR: Prevalence Ratio. of FI
Variables		n=252	n	%	Gross PR	CI 95% ^c c CI 95% Confidence Interval.	Adjusted PR	CI95%	p-value
Territory									0.068
	Conventional	218	155	71.1	1.0		1.0
	Quilombo/Settlement	34	33	97.1	1.36	1.23-1.51	1.13	0.99-1.28
Color of the head of the family									0.095
	White	58	32	60.4	1.0		1.0
	Brown/ Black/ Yellow/ Indigenous	193	152	78.7	1.30	1.05-1.63	1.19	0.97-1.47
Per capita income ^d d Classification criteria of the Ministry of Social Development in the implementation of the Bolsa Família Program in 2015: Extreme Poverty <BRL 77.00; Poverty =BRL 77.00 and <154.00; Above the poverty line> BRL 154.00 (per capita/month). Adjustment variables that were excluded from the final model (p <0.20): area (rural or urban location); per capita income (minimum salary bracket); enrollment in the Bolsa Família Program; individual’s sex; individual’s educational level; individual’s occupation; and food production.									0.001
	> Poverty line	159	104	65.4	1.0		1.0
	< Poverty line	89	80	89.9	1.37	1.20-1.57	1.25	1.10-1.37
Number of household residents									0.009
	Up to 4 residents	158	108	68.4	1.0		1.0
	5 or more residents	94	80	85.1	1.24	1.09-1.43	1.19	1.04-1.36
Wastewater destination
	Public sanitation system	157	102	65.0	1.0		1.0		0.003
	Sump/ Water streams/ Others/ Do not know	95	86	90.5	1.39	1.22-1.59	1.25	1.08-1.45	0.003

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[1] Correspondence to: F.C.L.P. TAVARES. E-mail: fernanda.lpinto@ufpe.br.