Angelica Enciso L.
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday March 1, 2023, p. fifteen
As the world population suffered from the covid-19 pandemic, the world’s 20 largest agribusiness companies made a rampant speculation
that since 2020 led them to obtain grotesque earnings
for 53.5 billion dollars, equivalent to what is required to cover the basic needs of 230 million people, according to the report food injustice, of Greenpeace international. Archer-Daniels Midland, Cargill, Bunge and Dreyfus alone control between 70 and 90 percent of the world’s grain trade.
Of these large corporations, 13 are in Mexico, including the four mentioned, which confirms that control of Mexican food is in the hands of few companies, he said. Among them are Danone and Nestlé, the latter markets a large number of brands with labels that show the presence of excess fat, sodium and sugar in their products, related to non-communicable diseases.
The findings show how Big agricultural corporations exploited the crises for grotesque profits, plunging millions more into starvation and tightening their grip on the global food system, only to pay outrageous amounts of money to their owners and shareholders.
.
The report was made between 2020 and 2022, the period of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in order to define how many people have been affected by food insecurity and the extreme increase in food prices.
The effect on the global hunger rate over the course of the pandemic was dramatic, according to the FAO, the number of people suffering from hunger increased by more than 150 million in 2021 compared to 2019. Between 702 and 828 million people saw their diets affected in 2021. After remaining relatively unchanged since 2015, the proportion of undernourished people on the planet increased from 8 to 9.3 percent in 2020 and at a slower pace to an estimated 9.8 percent during 2021
he detailed.
He added that companies with more market share obtain higher profits, which allows them to acquire smaller companies, thus reinforcing their control over the market. In Mexico, the right to nutritious, sufficient and quality food must be guaranteed as dictated by the fourth article of the Constitution and make a root change that transforms the agri-food system from an industrialized one to an agroecological one
said Viridiana Lázaro of Greenpeace.
