Geography of food hunger and deprivation in current agricultural Brazil: reflection based on Josué de Castro and the VIGISAN inquiry

Abstract

This study presents a reflection on hunger in Brazil in recent times. The objective is to establish a reflection on the process of hunger in Brazil, based on the work “A Geografia da Fome” by Josué de Castro, published in 1946 and the National Inquiry on Food Insecurity in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil, (VIGISAN) of the PENSSAN network, which outlines an overview of the problem of hunger in Brazil in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The methodology used is based on a narrative review of the literature and data collection from the VIGISAN surveys, produced by REDE PENSSAN in the years 2021 and 2022. It can be concluded that hunger, as an extreme dimension of poverty, is a historical problem, closely related to the formation process of the Brazilian territory. In this way, the work of Josué de Castro expresses, even in the 1940s, the socio-spatial inequalities in Brazil based on the analysis of hunger, a social problem still persistently present in Brazil, as attested by the recent VIGISAN surveys.