PARIS, April 21, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Africa must move swiftly to
prevent a looming food crunch caused by coronavirus disruption for
small-scale producers, the head of a UN agency says.
“People in lockdown no longer have access to public transport
systems, to seeds, to informal markets, to sell their goods or buy
inputs such as seed and fertiliser,” said Gilbert Houngbo, head of the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
“The closure of major highways and bans on exports could also harm
food systems,” he told AFP in an interview.
“The breaking of logistical chains is one of the biggest problems
to resolve,” he said. “We have to act right now to prevent a health
crisis from becoming a food crisis.”
IFAD specialises in help for poor rural populations, seeking to
strengthen food security and employment through low-interest loans and
grants.
The agency on Monday said it had committed $40 million ($36.91
million euros) to a fund called the COVID-19 Rural Poor Stimulus
Facility, aimed at easing the impact of the pandemic on food
production and market access.
It appealed for at least $200 million more from UN members,
foundations and the private sector.
Houngbo, a former prime minister of Togo, said time was short for
strengthening the safety net in rural Africa.
“In the coming weeks,” he said, there was the basic logistical
problem of getting fertiliser to farmers as they prepared for the
sowing season.
Another challenge was how to manage a buildup of harvests in rural
areas, where 80 percent of the population is poor.
“We are helping to find local outlets for harvests which otherwise
will be lost for lack of transport, and we are helping governments to
buy up stocks of agricultural products which they can then distribute
to people in need.”