Topic: 2024-Famine in Conflict Zones
Country: Peru
Delegate Name: Cordelia Bollis
Country: Peru
Committee: FAO
Topic: Famine in Conflict Zones
Delegate: Cordelia Bollis
School: Williamston High School
Prior to 2024, there has always been a recurring issue with famine, as famine continues to grow and the crops continue to decrease. Currently, according to the IPC scale, which ranks the severity of famine in a country, it says that in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen, and in the Gaza Strip that they are the most food insecure regions. Then inflation has also been a part of the increase in famine, for example when there was a surplus of grain in Ukraine as they haven’t been able to export, making families in impoverished areas.
Peru has actively participated in trying to reduce famine. For starters, in 2005 Peru established a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, called JUNTOS. JUNTOS’s main goal is to alleviate poverty and then they have other goals of making healthcare, nutrition, and education more accessible. With the government funds they receive, they donate them to families who live on low incomes, especially those in extreme poverty and those with pregnant women and young children, so they can purchase nutritious food that could aid their malnutrition and help promote a better diet. JUNTOS also engages in community involvement by having families, local health, and educational systems together to promote health literacy and access. Furthermore, some JUNTOS have triumphed in significantly reducing malnutrition for children under five. However, JUNTOS isn’t accessible in every region in Peru as some places won’t comply with it. The rapid growth of famine is blamed on the sudden inflation in Peru that led to poverty and the aftereffects of COVID-19. Currently, Peru is ranked at level 3 on the IPC scale, meaning that many households struggle to afford food without skipping meals, selling valuable belongings, and without the help of another. Fortunately, in this phase, people aren’t in famine but are at risk of famine if the problem continues to go unseen. So, Peru aligned itself with the World Food Program (WFP), to address the deficiencies in vitamins and minerals, by fortifying rice to add these important nutrients in hopes of increasing healthy diet habits (as a lot of people have anemia), while not changing the food. With fortified rice, it would be more accessible to families with lower incomes, as rice is a staple food in Peru, and at a reasonable price to help prevent malnourishment and famine. Fortified rice is also mandatory because in 2021 a law was passed which required it, which also reassures that this would be a continuous thing that would help alleviate famine. Finally, the last issue on famine in Peru originates from the natural disasters of El Niño causing the production of agriculture to be inconsistent. Climate Shocks also make food production inconsistent, for example in the Amazonas region, there have been recurring extreme rainfall, earthquakes, and landslides. Producing more food despite these natural disasters has been hard, however, Peru has tried to improve irrigation and water management to prevent the effects of the heavy rains, and they have tried to plant more resilient crops, so there isn’t a huge amount of food wasted due to damages with the disasters.
The delegation of Peru would like to continue fortifying rice, using strategies against El Nino, and to promote CCT programs to be more global and accessible to help alleviate famine. However, the delegation of Peru wants to try to decrease the inflation, as Peru faces an inflation rate of 4.7% which isn’t terrible to the point where no one can afford anything but with this current number, many people, especially in rural areas are struggling to have food meet the table, as simple, basic nutritious foods have become too expensive in their budget. Going back to wanting to increase fortifying rice, Peru thinks this would be better as it would prevent diseases such as anemia from being exposed to more, and it would be more accessible at a decent cost that even someone with a low income could afford, so famine could be reduced. Then since Peru is frequently exposed to natural disasters, such as El Nino, Peru wants to try and prevent many agriculture from being damaged from said disasters, so if there could be more consistent amounts of crops harvested, then people would be able to buy these products more easily, as they would get cheaper and then famine too could be reduced. Finally, with the CCT programs, Peru would want to continue having them all the while, maybe trying to push for it to be globally accessible, as with JUNTOS they aim to reduce poverty while also having reduced malnutrition, so with these programs Peru can hope to see less famine in the future. Again if CCT programs were expanded into conflict zones, then they could help those who are struggling with famine and poverty by providing government funds directly for those in desperate need, and those who are in conflict zones can depend on CCTs from other countries if needed.
