* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Jimena Peroni, Action Against Hunger
Recurring drought in the Chaco, a semi-arid lowland plain in Bolivia, has left the indigenous Guarani communities at risk from the harmful effects of chronic malnutrition and anaemia. J
Doña Liliana has a long day ahead of her. After preparing breakfast for her seven children and sending the older ones to school, she will need to clean the house, fetch water, wash clothes, grind corn for the chickens, care for her children and prepare dinner. Doña Liliana never stops. During the festive season, much of her time is used to prepare “chicha”, a drink made from corn to share with the community.
In recent years, life has become more and more difficult for Doña Liliana, her family, and the community around her. Safe drinking water is scarce and drought all too common. Guarani families rely on the sale of corn for their income, however, they can only grow their corn during the short rainy season. Doña Liliana’s earnings from the sale of corn only cover her family’s food needs for four or five months after harvest, leaving them in a desperate situation for the remainder of the year.
Less than meets the eye
Doña Liliana’s story is not unique – more than 90 per cent of Guarani communities in the Chaco live in poverty. Yet when there isn’t enough food to go around in these households, the consequences can be devastating. As drought becomes ever more frequent, the fragile community struggles to grow or buy a variety of nutritious foods, meaning they not only eat less, but reduce the quality of an already meagre diet. This significantly inflates undernutrition rates amongst the Guarani people, most particularly in children.
For example, in the province of Cordillera, seven out of ten children under two years are anaemic, and 22 per cent suffer from chronic malnutrition due to a lack of micronutrients, especially vitamin A, zinc and iron. This type of nutritional deficiency, often known as ‘hidden hunger’, is invisible yet highly destructive – stunting children’s growth and affecting them for the rest of their lives. Added to this, chronic malnutrition also increases the susceptibility of both children and adults to disease, and exposes mothers and infants to greater risks during childbirth.
Reclaiming the balance
Whilst the impact of hidden hunger can be vast, it can also largely be avoided. When the rains failed and protracted drought hit Bolivia in 2010, Action Against Hunger (ACF) launched a series of programmes aimed at promoting a diversified diet amongst Guarani families, and providing them with the means to consume more nutritious foods.
A pioneering Fresh Food Vouchers programme was launched. Families were given vouchers with which they could buy foods from the local markets such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat or eggs. The market holders could then exchange the vouchers for cash. Vegetable gardens were also set up to improve access to fruit and vegetables for the long-term. Meanwhile, cooking demonstrations and nutrition workshops taught families how to create varied, balanced meals from their new ingredients, ultimately improving household dietary diversity and micronutrient consumption for the long term.
Programmes like these have helped Guarani communities build their resilience to ward off hidden hunger by providing families like Doña Liliana’s with access to the food that is absolutely essential for their ongoing health and wellbeing. Yet the community’s hopes and aspirations do not stop there. "Amongst other things, we hope to increase the size of the gardens and start keeping livestock,” says the leader of the Yaití community. This points to a more hopeful future where the people of Bolivia no longer rely on food aid during recurring droughts, but have the resources to provide for themselves.
Jimena Peroni is technical coordinator for Action Against Hunger in Bolivia. This blog is a contribution to AlertNet's special report Solutions for a Hungry World.
