United Nations Focuses on Averting COVID-19 Food Crisis
By Irene Gaitirira
Published December 17, 2020
While one in ten people is expected to go hungry as extreme poverty rises for the first time in 20 years, United Nations estimates that an additional 132 million people shall go hungry in 2020 due to the impact of the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
To help in alleviating the suffering due to COVID-19, United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says Germany has set aside some €27.3 million for its Rural Poor Stimulus Facility to help in averting a COVID-19-induced food crisis in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
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IFAD says the German funds shall ‘provide small-scale food producers with timely access to inputs, markets, liquidity and information to help ensure a continuous food supply in the worst affected areas’.
Measures to limit the spread of the pandemic have led to restrictions in trade and movement which have prevented farmers from planting and harvesting crops, and from accessing markets to sell their produce and buy inputs. They have also disrupted domestic and international food supply chains, putting millions of rural livelihoods at risk.
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“The impact of COVID-19 on the world’s most vulnerable rural people has been brutal. If they continue to struggle to feed their families or earn a decent living, we will have a far greater crisis on our hands. Keeping local food chains going is a way to help bring some stability and prevent mass migration and conflict,” says Gilbert F Houngbo, President of IFAD. “With this generous and timely contribution, the Government and people of Germany are reaffirming their commitment to building a more stable world where people live free from hunger.”
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“COVID-19 has severe implications for poor rural people and smallholder farmers in developing countries,” says Dr Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development. “IFAD’s Rural Poor Stimulus Facility provides key inputs, targeted funds and other important assistance to these farmers in order to stabilize agricultural production and markets. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is happy to support the Facility’s important work with a significant contribution of more than €27 million.“
IFAD says its Rural Poor Stimulus Facility ‘has already approved 50 proposals for funds which will support around 1.5 million people, including in some of the world’s most challenging contexts such as Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia and Yemen.
The Rural Poor Stimulus Facility was launched in April 2020 by Idris and Sabrina Elba, IFAD’s Goodwill Ambassadors.
