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

isn't 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 that 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 cause 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

that 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).

 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, one

way to address the food insecurity state in early childhood at Orinoquia is teaching families

that have children between 0 and 5 years old, 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 the

development of the gardens take at least 6 months but after that, families will have permanent

access to the fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

6. Data collection results for solution

7. Conclusion

The main disadvantages of this solution are that the results will appear in the long term and

that a big number of homes in Orinoquia don't have access to potable water and this could

make the growing of crops difficult. Also, the Government actually doesn't show interest in

investing to solve this problem. However, FAO (2013) explained that 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

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.