Mérida, Yucatán, (Ocober 18, 2021).- In the last two years, the population that had deficiencies to access nutritious and quality food in Yucatan, increased 19.5 percent, since in 2018 there were 481 thousand 300 people who did not eat well, and in 2020 the figure increased to 575 1,400 Yucatecans who did not have access to nutritious and quality food.
The foregoing was revealed by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), which also reported an increase of 26.6 percent among the population living in poverty in the state. In 2018, there were 992 thousand 300 people living in conditions considered by the state as “poor”, but last year, the figure grew to 1,156,800 people living in this condition.
Of the 1,156,800 poor people that were reported last year in the state, the Coneval revealed that 22.8 percent, that is, 263 thousand 700 citizens lived in conditions of extreme poverty, while 77.2 percent, that is, 893,200 inhabitants lived in conditions of moderate poverty, a panorama that sets the alarms off.
Karina Caballero, who is a single mother and employee of a greengrocer, is part of the population that lives in conditions of extreme poverty, having three deficiencies, such as social security, quality, and housing spaces, as well as access to food, since many times they must eat in a community dining room, which, on average, prepares 3,500 rations of food every fortnight.
“The community dining room helps us a lot. It is a great blessing, the salary is not enough for me, because there are many expenses when there are children as is my case, above all, because they already go to school “, she mentioned. She and her children live in the irregular settlement of El Roble Libre Unión, located south of the Yucatecan capital, next to the Peripheral Ring.
Leticia Cocom, also a single mother and a domestic worker, mentioned that for her the community dining room, which is open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, is important so that she can feed her children since her job is not permanent and it is not well paid. “I live from day to day, so the dining room is very, very supportive for me,” she commented.
The interviewees indicated that during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic they were left without employment, which impacted their source of income, since Leticia was replaced by the families with whom she worked in the North of Mérida, by washing machines and dry cleaners. Karina just didn’t work for at least three months in 2020.
“Yes, I saw it hard and I fell apart, but we must get ahead for the children, above all,” said Karina, while Leticia said when the pandemic began “they (their bosses) were a little scared and bought their automatic washing machines, and doing that job themselves, and I was left without a job, but thanks to the dining room we were able to survive ”.
TYT Newsroom