Food is the main money destination for Auxílio Brasil, points out Datafolha

The attempt to ensure the family’s food means that 76% of Auxílio Brasil beneficiaries use the benefit to put food inside the house, according to a Datafolha survey from September 20 to 22.

Despite government efforts to lower fuel prices, this had no direct impact on beneficiary spending, according to the survey.

Record levels of household indebtedness also make 11% use aid to pay off debts.

Then, the purchase of medicines (6%) and the purchase of cooking gas (2%) are mentioned; other expenses are quoted by 5%.

In the survey, 24% of respondents said that someone in the household receives Auxílio Brasil, and 7% said they receive the federal Gas Valley.

The PT electorate remains resistant among the program’s beneficiaries: 59% say they will vote for former president Lula, 26% for Bolsonaro, 5% for Ciro Gomes (PDT), and 3% for Simone Tebet (MDB).

In the event of a second round between Lula and Bolsonaro, 64% declare their vote for PT and 30% for the current president.

Percentage of those reporting insufficient food drops

Even with the increase in Auxílio Brasil to R$600 and the recent drop in inflation, for just over a quarter (27%) of the total Datafolha sample, the amount of food at home was insufficient.

This level represents a decrease compared to the one observed at the end of July (32.6%), but still above the one registered in June (25.9%), and is the second highest in the series started in May.

In recent months, with food more expensive and poverty even more visible on the corners of Brazilian cities, food insecurity has returned to the center of the political debate.

Last June, the second edition of the National Survey on Food Insecurity in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil, by Rede Penssan, pointed out that 33 million people are hungry in Brazil – a level similar to what had been recorded three decades ago. .

In September, an offshoot of this report showed that hunger is now around 1 in 3 Brazilian families with children up to ten years old, especially in homes in the North and Northeast.

Even in search of votes in the poorest regions of the country, President Jair Bolsonaro has disqualified data on lack of food. “Real hunger doesn’t exist, as it is said. What is extreme poverty? You earn US$ 1.9 a day, that’s R$ 10. Auxílio Brasil is R$ 20 a day. ventura is on the hunger map can register and will receive”, he said, to a podcast.

Bolsonaro also said that there are no people at the doors of commercial establishments asking for food. “What can we say, if you go to any bakery, there’s no one asking to buy bread. There is no such thing. When I say that, I’m losing votes, but reality can’t help but say,” he said.

In search of food in a bakery in the region of Avenida Paulista, Raian Alves, 23, is one of the Brazilians who contradict the president’s speech. “A lot of people are asking for food and money at the doors of the shops, sometimes there are even fights to see who can stay close to bakeries. Most people help, but in the cold it’s harder to get something.”

A recent video that circulated on social media also helped to bring the issue to the electoral field. In the recording, a bolsonarista informs a woman that she would no longer receive food donations for declaring her vote for former president Lula.

In the material, first published by Jornalistas Livres, the day worker Ilza Ramos Rodrigues, 52, is humiliated by Bolsonaro’s voter, who asks who she will vote for president in the next election. The businessman later apologized for the video.

This week, it was the turn of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, to adopt a speech that minimizes the problem of food shortages: “These are economic facts, it’s no use. The political tactic is noise: 33 million people are starving. It’s a lie, it’s false. These are not the numbers”, he said, at an event in the automotive sector in São Paulo.

For activist Dalileia Lobo, who coordinates a project to support homeless people in downtown São Paulo, the post-pandemic may end up making the problem invisible. “There was a lot of effort and an increase in donations at the beginning of the pandemic, but with the increase in food, donations have dropped, at a time of great demand for food.”

Despite dealing with similar themes, data from the Penssan Network report and the Datafolha survey do not allow comparison: the Pensann survey is a sample of households using four categories of food insecurity severity: food security, mild food insecurity, moderate food insecurity and severe food insecurity.

Datafolha, in turn, is a sample with the adult Brazilian population (16 years and over). Another point is that, in the institute’s research, the answer is given by what the interviewee understands by “lack of food”, in a single question.