大象传媒

鈥淭o search for solutions to hunger means to act within the principle that the status of a citizen surpasses that of a mere consumer.鈥�

CITY OF BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL

This article from the 大象传媒 Media archives was originally published in the Spring 2009 issue of 大象传媒 Magazine.

In writing Diet for a Small Planet, I learned one simple truth: Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy. But that realization was only the beginning, for then I had to ask: What does a democracy look like that enables citizens to have a real voice in securing life鈥檚 essentials? Does it exist anywhere? Is it possible or a pipe dream? With hunger on the rise here in the United States鈥攐ne in 10 of us is now turning to food stamps鈥攖hese questions take on new urgency.

To begin to conceive of the possibility of a culture of empowered citizens making democracy work for them, real-life stories help鈥攏ot models to adopt wholesale, but examples that capture key lessons. For me, the story of Brazil鈥檚 fourth largest city, Belo Horizonte, is a rich trove of such lessons. Belo, a city of 2.5 million people, once had 11 percent of its population living in absolute poverty, and almost 20 percent of its children going hungry. Then in 1993, a newly elected administration declared food a right of citizenship. The officials said, in effect: If you are too poor to buy food in the market鈥攜ou are no less a citizen. I am still accountable to you.

The new mayor, Patrus Ananias鈥攏ow leader of the federal anti-hunger effort鈥攂egan by creating a city agency, which included assembling a 20-member council of citizen, labor, business, and church representatives to advise in the design and implementation of a new food system. The city already involved regular citizens directly in allocating municipal resources鈥攖he 鈥�participatory budgeting鈥� that started in the 1970s and has since spread across Brazil. During the first six years of 叠别濒辞鈥檚 food-as-a-right policy, perhaps in response to the new emphasis on food security, the number of citizens engaging in the city鈥檚 participatory budgeting process doubled to more than 31,000.

The city agency developed dozens of innovations to assure everyone the right to food, especially by weaving together the interests of farmers and consumers. It offered local family farmers dozens of choice spots of public space on which to sell to urban consumers, essentially redistributing retailer markups on produce鈥攚hich often reached 100 percent鈥攖o consumers and the farmers. Farmers鈥� profits grew, since there was no wholesaler taking a cut. And poor people got access to fresh, healthy food.

When my daughter Anna and I visited Belo Horizonte to write Hope鈥檚 Edge we approached one of these stands. A farmer in a cheerful green smock, emblazoned with 鈥淒irect from the Countryside,鈥� grinned as she told us, 鈥淚 am able to support three children from my five acres now. Since I got this contract with the city, I鈥檝e even been able to buy a truck.鈥�

The improved prospects of these Belo farmers were remarkable considering that, as these programs were getting underway, farmers in the country as a whole saw their incomes drop by almost half.

In addition to the farmer-run stands, the city makes good food available by offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to bid on the right to use well-trafficked plots of city land for 鈥淎BC鈥� markets, from the Portuguese acronym for 鈥渇ood at low prices.鈥� Today there are 34 such markets where the city determines a set price鈥攁bout two-thirds of the market price鈥攐f about 20 healthy items, mostly from in-state farmers and chosen by store owners. Everything else they can sell at the market price.

鈥淔or ABC sellers with the best spots, there鈥檚 another obligation attached to being able to use the city land,鈥� a former manager within this city agency, Adriana Aranha, explained. 鈥淓very weekend they have to drive produce-laden trucks to the poor neighborhoods outside of the city center, so everyone can get good produce.鈥�

Another product of food-as-a-right thinking is three large, airy People鈥檚 Restaurants (Restaurante Popular), plus a few smaller venues, that daily serve 12,000 or more people using mostly locally grown food for the equivalent of less than 50 cents a meal. When Anna and I ate in one, we saw hundreds of diners鈥攇randparents and newborns, young couples, clusters of men, mothers with toddlers. Some were in well-worn street clothes, others in uniform, still others in business suits.

鈥淚鈥檝e been coming here every day for five years and have gained six kilos,鈥� beamed one elderly, energetic man in faded khakis.

鈥淚t鈥檚 silly to pay more somewhere else for lower quality food,鈥� an athletic-looking young man in a military police uniform told us. 鈥淚鈥檝e been eating here every day for two years. It鈥檚 a good way to save money to buy a house so I can get married,鈥� he said with a smile.

No one has to prove they鈥檙e poor to eat in a People鈥檚 Restaurant, although about 85 percent of the diners are. The mixed clientele erases stigma and allows 鈥渇ood with dignity,鈥� say those involved.

叠别濒辞鈥檚 food security initiatives also include extensive community and school gardens as well as nutrition classes. Plus, money the federal government contributes toward school lunches, once spent on processed, corporate food, now buys whole food mostly from local growers.

鈥淲e鈥檙e fighting the concept that the state is a terrible, incompetent administrator,鈥� Adriana explained. 鈥淲e鈥檙e showing that the state doesn鈥檛 have to provide everything, it can facilitate. It can create channels for people to find solutions themselves.鈥�

For instance, the city, in partnership with a local university, is working to 鈥渒eep the market honest in part simply by providing information,鈥� Adriana told us. They survey the price of 45 basic foods and household items at dozens of supermarkets, then post the results at bus stops, online, on television and radio, and in newspapers so people know where the cheapest prices are.

鈥淚 knew we had so much hunger in the world. But what is so upsetting, what I didn鈥檛 know when I started this, is it鈥檚 so easy. It鈥檚 so easy to end it.鈥�

The shift in frame to food as a right also led the Belo hunger fighters to look for novel solutions. In one successful experiment, egg shells, manioc leaves, and other material normally thrown away were ground and mixed into flour for school kids鈥� daily bread. This enriched food also goes to nursery school children, who receive three meals a day courtesy of the city.

The result of these and other related innovations?

In just a decade Belo Horizonte cut its infant death rate鈥攚idely used as evidence of hunger鈥攂y more than half, and today these initiatives benefit almost 40 percent of the city鈥檚 2.5 million population. One six-month period in 1999 saw infant malnutrition in a sample group reduced by 50 percent. And between 1993 and 2002, Belo Horizonte was the only locality in which consumption of fruits and vegetables went up.

The cost of these efforts?

Around $10 million annually, or less than 2 percent of the city budget. That鈥檚 about a penny a day per Belo resident.

Behind this dramatic, life-saving change is what Adriana calls a 鈥渘ew social mentality鈥濃�攖he realization that 鈥渆veryone in our city benefits if all of us have access to good food, so鈥攍ike health care or education鈥攓uality food for all is a public good.鈥�

The Belo experience shows that a right to food does not necessarily mean more public handouts (although in emergencies, of course, it does). It can mean redefining the 鈥渇ree鈥� in 鈥渇ree market鈥� as the freedom of all to participate. It can mean, as in Belo, building citizen-government partnerships driven by values of inclusion and mutual respect.

And when imagining food as a right of citizenship, please note: No change in human nature is required! Through most of human evolution鈥攅xcept for the last few thousand of roughly 200,000 years鈥�Homo sapiens lived in societies where pervasive sharing of food was the norm. As food sharers, 鈥渆specially among unrelated individuals,鈥� humans are unique, writes Michael Gurven, an authority on hunter-gatherer food transfers. Except in times of extreme privation, when some eat, all eat.

Before leaving Belo, Anna and I had time to reflect a bit with Adriana. We wondered whether she realized that her city may be one of the few in the world taking this approach鈥攆ood as a right of membership in the human family. So I asked, 鈥淲hen you began, did you realize how important what you are doing was? How much difference it might make? How rare it is in the entire world?鈥�

Listening to her long response in Portuguese without understanding, I tried to be patient. But when her eyes moistened, I nudged our interpreter. I wanted to know what had touched her emotions.

鈥淚 knew we had so much hunger in the world,鈥� Adriana said. 鈥淏ut what is so upsetting, what I didn鈥檛 know when I started this, is it鈥檚 so easy. It鈥檚 so easy to end it.鈥�

Adriana鈥檚 words have stayed with me. They will forever. They hold perhaps 叠别濒辞鈥檚 greatest lesson: that it is easy to end hunger if we are willing to break free of limiting frames and to see with new eyes鈥攊f we trust our hardwired fellow feeling and act, no longer as mere voters or protesters, for or against government, but as problem-solving partners with government accountable to us.

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Frances Moore Lapp茅 is the author or co-author of 20 books about world hunger, living democracy, and the environment, beginning with Diet for a Small Planet in 1971. She has been featured on numerous media and news outlets. Frances is the cofounder of three organizations including Food First and the Small Planet Institute, which she leads with her daughter, Anna Lapp茅. The pair also co-founded the Small Planet Fund, which channels resources to democratic social movements worldwide. For more information visit聽www.smallplanet.org聽and聽www.democracymovement.us

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