Policymakers, multilateral organizations, and academic stakeholders are advancing a regional roadmap to strengthen the right to food in Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasizing regulatory frameworks, budget allocation, and coordinated public policy. The initiative is critical for Mexico, where institutions like AMEXCID play a central role in regional cooperation, as rising food costs, supply chain disruptions, and fertilizer shortages linked to geopolitical tensions increase pressure on agrifood systems. The agribusiness, food production, and trade sectors face growing risks and opportunities tied to policy alignment, international financing mechanisms, and market stability.

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Parliamentary advisors, representatives from academia, and international cooperation organizations took part in the II Ibero-American Dialogue Food First, consolidating a regional roadmap aimed at advancing the effective implementation of the right to food in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The meeting, organized by FAO together with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), provided a platform to exchange experiences, strengthen technical capacities, and align concrete commitments to promote public policies on food and nutrition security from a rights-based approach.

Key agreements included the need to promote legislation with dedicated budget allocations, strengthen coordination between parliaments, academia, and international cooperation actors, encourage national-level dialogues following the signing of the Pact, and reinforce engagement with both the media and citizens.

“The work of the Parliamentary Fronts Against Hunger (FPH) in Latin America and the Caribbean, within the framework of the Food First Pact, allows for faster progress and stronger political commitment, while also engaging parliamentary leadership and securing their backing for this agenda,” said Jairo Flores, Coordinator of the FPH in Guatemala and for Mesoamerica.

The Food First Pact was signed in October last year during the I Ibero-American and Caribbean Parliamentary Forum for Food Security, held in Mexico City. The pact is a political instrument designed to strengthen interparliamentary cooperation across Ibero-America and the Caribbean, advancing the implementation of legal and budgetary frameworks that guarantee adequate food for all, in line with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger).

At that time, Alejandra del Moral, Executive Director, AMEXCID, reaffirmed Mexico’s commitment to food security and underscored the importance of international cooperation in what she described as a shared responsibility. “From AMEXCID, we reaffirm our commitment to continue promoting a people-centered development agenda aimed at guaranteeing the right to food,” she stated.

Since 2015, AMEXCID has worked closely with FAO through the Mesoamerica Without Hunger program. The initiative collaborates with institutions in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic to ensure that public actors are better equipped to deliver effective and relevant solutions to the challenges driving food and nutrition insecurity among the most vulnerable rural populations.

To this end, the program focuses on supporting the development and strengthening of public policies, regulatory instruments, and governance, management, and coordination frameworks that enable public institutions to perform effectively. Its goals include promoting healthy diets for the entire population, facilitating equitable access for rural communities to the resources needed to build sustainable livelihoods, and implementing inclusive institutional mechanisms that allow the most vulnerable groups to access opportunities on equal terms.

Elena Diego, Director of CCE Antigua, highlighted that women and girls are the most affected by food insecurity in the region. As a result, FAO is working in partnership with parliamentary networks and academia to improve food and nutrition policies and strengthen them through a cross-cutting gender approach.

According to the 2025 Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition, women in the region show a 5.3% higher prevalence of undernourishment than men. Other key challenges on the topic include the high cost of a healthy diet, which increased by 3.8% in 2024, making the region the most expensive in the world, with a daily cost of US$5.1. The rise of obesity is also a growing public health concern: 29.9% of adults in the region live with obesity, while overweight prevalence among children under five reached 8.8% in 2024, exceeding the global target for 2030.

During the 39th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu emphasized that factors such as food prices, fiscal constraints, reduced development financing, geopolitical tensions, and the increasing intensity and frequency of climate events are part of an increasingly complex environment in which agrifood systems, both regionally and globally, are operating.

“This region has the tools, the talent, and the tenacity to transform challenges into opportunities. Everybody has the right to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. It is possible to achieve that,” he said, stressing that food insecurity is not the result of unpredictable events but rather a lack of political will. “Too often the vulnerable and hungry are invisible to the bureaucratic gaze of those responsible for solving such basic problems,” he added.

Middle East Conflict Threatens Food Security

At the global level, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, stemming from the escalation of hostilities between Iran, Israel, and the United States, has significantly impacted the supply of fertilizers and energy, both essential for agricultural production. FAO warned that this situation could trigger a sharp rise in food prices and exacerbate global inflation in the coming months.

The conflict, which began on Feb. 28, has disrupted one of the world’s most strategic maritime routes, through which between 20% and 45% of key agri-food inputs are transported. According to the World Bank, urea prices stood at US$472 per ton at the end of February but surged to US$800 per ton in international markets following the outbreak of hostilities.

This disruption particularly affects lower-income countries, where planting seasons are already underway and depend on fertilizer imports to ensure production. In response, FAO has developed a crop calendar-based prioritization system to determine when and how much fertilizer different countries require. “The risks are very clear. If we don’t accelerate…, the risks will exacerbate,” said Máximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist.

David Laborde, Director of FAO’s Agrifood Economics Division, also warned of the urgency of acting swiftly to prevent further escalation. The UN agency has urged governments to avoid export restrictions on energy and fertilizers and to reconsider biofuel mandates, as diverting crops toward energy production could further reduce the global food supply.

FAO has also proposed international financing mechanisms to support the most vulnerable countries, including balance of payments facilities from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the so-called Food Shock Window, inspired by the Food Import Financing Facility proposed by the organization in 2022.