One in every 10 Italians suffer
from food poverty and can't afford a regular meal, and 1.3
million of those who suffer are minors, said Italian Food Bank
Network (IFBN) on Tuesday, during their presentation "Food
Poverty Food Bank" at Milan Expo.
IFBN said 65% of the affiliated organizations it works with
in 2014 reported a "moderate" or "strong" increase in demand
among the people they serve, including the unemployed, indebted,
and families of separation or divorce.
In fact, the principle cause of poverty in 2014 was due to
job loss, according to the statistics presented.
"Poverty seems to be on its way to becoming chronic in our
country, where 47% of affiliated organizations didn't report
people leaving poverty, a figure that rises to 57% in the areas
of the South where poverty is quantitatively more diffuse and
persistent," said IBFN.
"This data represents the scope of the challenge," said
Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina.
Martina said the Agriculture Ministry brought the total of
food distributed to the needy to 100,000 tons for this year, and
with the Labour Ministry has allocated more than 400 million
euros to the cause of food poverty through the year 2020, "also
making the most of European resources," he said.
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