Agri-food globalization and food security in Brazil: recent trends and contradictions

ABSTRACTThe article analyzes the interrelationships between international commodity markets and food security in Brazil. Through bibliographical research, document analysis, and data visualization, this paper illustrates the key connections between the dynamics of agricultural commodity markets, the growth of commodity production in Brazil, and the behavior of food prices in Brazil. Greater integration of the Brazilian food market with the global food market not only raises land use and environmental concerns, but also requires a discussion of development strategies that can ensure national food. The paper's conclusion emphasizes the need for greater understanding of the ongoing dynamics and their local effects.KEYWORDS: Food securityfood marketgeopoliticsBrazil Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1 Our main contribution was to focus on transformations in Brazilian agriculture and the challenges these pose to food sovereignty and security (Flexor, Kato, and Leite Citation2022). See https://saudeamanha.fiocruz.br/o-projeto/#.Y0WiT-zMJdg2 Given that agricultural commodity production is significantly more land- and capital-intensive than labor-intensive, additional output is unlikely to result in the creation of many new employment. However, the establishment of well-paying employment is a need for food security.3 According to Anda (National Association for Fertilizer Dissemination) (Citationn.d.), imports of Intermediate and Complex Fertilizers - N P K - amounted to 34.61 million tons in 2022 (data through November), accounting for 84.24% of the total market offer. Given the magnitude of its agribusiness, Brazil is now one of the largest importers of fertilizers in the world.4 On the other hand, neoextractive literature indicates (Svampa Citation2019; Wesz Junior et al. Citation2021) that the increase in international prices has meant more foreign exchange and greater capacity for most Latin American governments to spend on a wide repertoire of policies in the last two decades, including those under the rubric of social programs.5 According to the IBGE, to calculate the IPCA: 1) the arithmetic average of the prices researched in different commercial establishments is calculated for each product in the current month. Through the same process, this average price is compared with the result obtained in the previous month; 2) to calculate the sub-item's index (food for example), the simple geometric mean is applied to aggregate the results of the products belonging to the sub-item; and 3) for all higher levels of aggregation, the Laspeyres formula is employed6 In order to compare the behavior of food prices with IPCA, we developed an index in which both the IPCA and the food price are equal to 1 in January 2010. Thus, on that date, the difference between the food price index and the IPCA is zero. If the price of food grows faster than the inflation, as measured by the IPCA, the index is positive and is above the red dashed line. On the other hand, if the level of inflation increases faster than the food price, the difference will be negative, and the index is positioned below the red dashed line. In other words, the trajectory of this index can be interpreted as the behavior of the relative price of food in terms of the level of inflation.7 In 2021, the Brazilian government introduced the Agroindustrial Productive Chains Investment Fund (FIAGRO) as a means to facilitate private financing for the agribusiness industry.8 An acronym for the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia9 Brazil's Amazon Soy Moratorium is a sectoral agreement under which commodities traders agreed to avoid the purchase of soybeans from areas that were deforested after 2008.10 The report points out that the sharp reductions in the number of people facing hunger in the world observed since 2005 reached a standstill in 2014, with the world witnessing a setback in efforts to combat hunger in 2020 (FAO, IFAD and WFP Citation2021).11 The first is the ‘National Survey on Food Insecurity in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil’, prepared by the PENSSAN Network (2021 and 2022) and the second is the survey called ‘Effects of the Pandemic on Food and the Situation of Food Security in Brazil’ (Galindo Citation2021).12 Number of unemployed people (average unemployment rate) according to the PNAD: in 2015 there were 10 million Brazilians (9.6%); in 2016, 11.76 million (12%); in 2017, 13.23 million (12.7%); in 2018, 12.2 million (11.6%); in 2019, the number of unemployed was 12.6 million people (11.9%).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Centro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.Notes on contributorsGeorges FlexorGeorges Flexor is an associate professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, a researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology in Public Policy, Strategies and Development (INCT/PPED), and the vice director of the Public Policy Observatory for Agriculture at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (OPPA/CPDA/UFRRJ). He has expertise in Political Economy, Public Policies, and Development Economics, focusing primarily on Political Economy of Natural Resources, Development Policy, Political Economy of Development Policy, and Public Policies Analysis.Karina Yoshie KatoKarina Yoshie Martins Kato is an adjunct Professor at the Department of Development, Agriculture, and Society (DDAS), Institute of Human and Social Sciences (ICHS), Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). She works at the Observatory of Public Policies for Agriculture (OPPA) and the Research Group on Social Change, Agribusiness, and Public Policy, as well as the Institute for Policy Alternatives for the Southern Cone (PACS) and the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of International Relations Studies (LIERI/UFRRJ). She is a CNPq productivity scholarship level 2 (2022). She has experience in Social Sciences, Economics, Sociology, and Politics, with a focus on Agrarian Economics, Rural Sociology, Public Policies, Rural Development, Political Economy, and Sociology of Development.Sergio Pereira LeiteSergio Pereira Leite is a full professor in the Postgraduate Programme of Social Sciences in Development, Agriculture and Society (CPDA) at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), where he is also the director of the Observatory of Public Policies for Agriculture (OPPA) and the Research Group on Social Change, Agribusiness, and Public Policy (GEMAP). He has experience in Social Sciences, Economics, Sociology, and Politics, with a focus on Agrarian Economics, Rural Sociology, Public Policies, Rural Development, Political Economy, and Sociology of Development. He is a researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology in Public Policy, Strategies and Development (INCT/PPED) and a CNPq scholar (Research Productivity Grant). He is a member of the French Agricultural Academy.