Food insecurity experience-based scales and food security governance: A case study from Brazil

Abstract

The well validated Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) documented major reductions in moderate/severe food insecurity (FI) between 2004 and 2014 likely because of economic growth in the context of equitable social and economic policies. Coinciding with a change in political administrations, in about 2015, FI rates started to rapidly rebound, with the FI crisis becoming substantially worst during the COVID-19 pandemic because equitable social policies were weakened or eliminated during the economic recession and political crisis preceding it. Evidence suggests that EBIA has helped inform food security governance in Brazil by documenting changes in FI coinciding with major shifts in social and economic policies. Research is needed to understand to what extent these policy shifts may explain the FI fluctuations over time.