María Paula Jiménez Gómez

201815777
English 9B LENG 1160-02
September 28

Food insecurity in children on Orinoquía, Colombia

1. Introduction

Food security is when all people have physical and economic access to enough, safe, and

nutritious food that supply their dietary needs and allow them to have a healthy life. There is

not food security in many countries. By contrast, some data indicate there are too many

people with no food security, especially children all around the world. According to FAO

about 821 million people in the world are undernourished and 150, 8 million of children under

5 years old have low height for their age. In Colombia 10,8 % of early childhood (children

between 0 and 5 years old) have low weight for their age.

2. Data Collection

To collect the bibliography and data needed to write this essay a list of the important topics

around food insecurity facts was done. First, resources about the principal topics were

searched on the official websites of Government like ICBF, Health Ministry, Department of

Protection of Citizen´s Rights, DANE, no government organizations like World Bank, United

Nations, specifically FAO and in the library database of the University. Then, a National

Survey done by ICBBF and data from an investigation developed by University of Los Andes

were selected to describe the problem. A graph of the investigation which shows some

nutritional facts of children between 0 and 5 years old by region was used to determine which

region was the most affected by the problem. After that search, a solution to the problem was

proposed inspired by a project developed by FAO in Paraguay to improve the food security of

some families in Asunción. In this way, a study of urban and peri-urban agriculture done by a

PhD in Geography was chosen to demonstrate the viability of the implementation of solution

in the Orinoquia region.

 3. Description of problem

One of the examples of places with food insecurity is the Orinoquía region, which has a

decline in access to safe and healthy food for boys and girls between 0 and 5 years old. In

other words, early childhood of the Orinoquía is in a chronic situation of food insecurity. As a

result of the food insecurity, the National Survey of Nutritional Situation in Colombia

(ENSIN) of 2015 shows that 12,3 % of children between 0 and 5 years old of the Orinoquía

have low height for age, 24% have acute malnutrition and 29,5% have anaemia. Colombian

Ministry of Health (2015) claims that food insecurity principal causes are lack of access to

potable water, sanitation services and nutritious food enough to ensure a healthy growth for

children. Furthermore, the Colombian Department of Protection of Citizen´s Rights

(Defensoría del Pueblo), after conducting an investigation at Orinoquía in 2016, demonstrated

the principal causes of food insecurity in the region were the lack of food and an appropriate

diet, basic sanitation problems, parasitosis and unsuitable food handling

4. Data collection results for problem

Low height for age (%) Exclusive breast feeding until 6 months(%)
Acute malnutrition (%)
Global malnutrition (%)
Anaemia prevalence (%)

Table 1: Nutritional facts for children between 0 to 5 years old by region in Colombia

Adapted from: Gutierrez, M (2018).

Table 1 shows the percentage by region of prevalence of some factors which allow to measure

the food insecurity situation in children from 0 to 5 years old in Colombia. As you can see,

compared with the national average the Orinoquía region has a bigger percentage in all the

factors. For instance, Orinoquía has 24% of acute malnutrition that is more than twice of the

percentage of the national average which is only 9%, and is the biggest percentage compared

with all the other regions. Furthermore, Bogota is the only place that exceeds the percentage

of low height for age compared with Orinoquia. By the way, the percentage is bigger in

Bogotá because it has more early childhood population, but it is more worrying in Orinoquía,

which has less early childhood population, so a big percentage means more children are

affected. This evidence support that Orinoquia region needs urgent assistance to solve the

nutritional situation of children under five years old to ensure their health and proper growth.

5. Description of solution

National Survey of Nutritional Situation in Colombia (2015) claims that the nutritional

situation of children and their survival until the age of five depend directly on their dietary

practices and the nutritional content of the food that they eat. Taking this into account, FAO

(2015) claims that one way to address the food insecurity state is the development of urban

and peri-urban agriculture because can provide fresh and nutritious food. For instance, the

organization determines that an area of 1m2 can provide 20kg of food per year. Thus, the

proposed solution is teaching families that have children between 0 and 5 years old in the

Orinoquia, to develop sustainable vegetable gardens in areas of no more than 100 m2 at home

that ensure them permanent supply of vegetables, fruits and legumes. To develop the gardens

the Government must provide for first time the seeds and supplies necessaries to start planting

and must arrange a group of experts that go to Orinoquia to teach and monitoring the process

of each family until they reach their first harvest. Also, the results of this solution will be

appreciated in the mid-term. Because, FAO (2013) explains the development of urban gardens
take at least 6 months, including the time that need each family to be trained in urban

agriculture (approximately 2 months) after start cultivating and harvesting cycles which lasts

in average between 1 to 3 months depending on the plants that are growing, but after that

families will have permanent access to the fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

6. Data collection results for solution

Table 2: Main socio-economic profiles of urban farmers

Adapted from: Fantini, A. (2016).

Table 2 shows the main socio-economic profiles needed to develop urban agriculture at

different scales. As you can see, to develop urban agriculture in a small scale the size of the

land must be of less than 100m2 and its location could be in urban areas. Besides, the products

produced in this scale could be fruits and vegetables and the technological level required is

minimum. This is the reason why teaching families to develop urban gardens at home, who

have children from 0 to 5 years old in Orinoquia, is an useful solution because at small scale

the area needed is a small one and the harvest produced by area is enough to guarantee food

for self-consumption for a household.

7. Conclusion

Nevertheless, the solution presents some disadvantages like that the results will appear in the

long term and a big number of homes in Orinoquia do not have access to potable water and
this could make the growing of crops difficult. However, FAO (2013) explained this class of

gardens have been developed in other countries, like Paraguay where as a result of a project

developed the 62 families that participated improved in a 124% their food security state and

the production of each garden represents around $100 dollars monthly which is the 25% of the

minimum wage of that country. Therefore, the sustainable vegetable gardens are a viable

alternative to reduce food insecurity in early childhood of the Orinoquia and to ensure the

access to nutritional food during their childhood and adolescence. The solution is good

because directly provides food with the nutritional content required to supply the dietary

needs of children and also allows families to save the money that they aren´t spending buying

this food because now they cultivate it themselves.

 8. Bibliography

Defensoría del Pueblo - Colombia. (2016). Crítico panorama de desnutrición infantil en

comunidades indígenas de la Orinoquía. Retrieved from:

https://www.defensoria.gov.co/es/nube/noticias/5194/Cr%c3%adtico-panorama-de-

desnutrici%c3%b3n-infantil-en-comunidadesind%c3%adgenas-de-la-Orinoqu

%c3%ada-desnutrici%c3%b3nind%c3%adgenas-Defensor%c3%ada-del-Pueblo-ni

%c3%b1osDesnutrici%c3%b3n-infantil.htm

Fantini, A. (2016). Cultivando ciudades: la agricultura urbana y periurbana como práctica de

transformación territorial, económica, social y política. Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma de

Barcelona.

Gutierrez, M. (2018). Las barriguitas vacías de la Orinoquía. Retrieved from:

https://repositorio.uniandes.edu.co/bitstream/handle/1992/31465/Las%20barriguitas

%20vac%c3%adas%20de%20la%20Orinoquia.%20CPEO.pdf?

sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar. (2015). Encuesta Nacional de Situación

Nutricional de Colombia (ENSIN). Bogotá D.C.: ICBF.

Ministerio de Salud: Subdirección de Salud Nutricional, Alimentos y Bebidas. (2015).

Análisis de situación de salud: dimensión de seguridad alimentaria y nutricional

Colombia, 2015. Bogotá D.C.: Imprenta Nacional de Colombia.

Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura: FAO. (2013).

Manual técnico para la implementación de huertas periurbanas: Sistematización de

la experiencia de fortalecimiento de las cadenas productivas de la agricultura

familiar para la inserción social y económica sostenible en zonas periurbanas del

Departamento Central de Paraguay. Asunción, Paraguay: FAO.

Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura: FAO. (2013).

Manual técnico para la implementación de huertas periurbanas: Sistematización de

la experiencia de fortalecimiento de las cadenas productivas de la agricultura

familiar para la inserción social y económica sostenible en zonas periurbanas del

Departamento Central de Paraguay. Asunción, Paraguay: FAO.

Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura: FAO. (2015).

Agricultura urbana: cultivar los suelos en la ciudad. Retrieved from:

http://www.fao.org/soils-2015/news/news-detail/es/c/332731/