• UN seeks additional Sh21.3 billion to support farmers and rural communities to continue growing and selling food.
• Fallout from Covid-19 may push rural families even deeper into poverty, hunger and desperation, which is a real threat to global prosperity and stability.
The UN-International Fund for Agricultural Development agency has launched a fund to cushion rural communities from a food crisis in the wake of Covid-19.
IFAD has committed Sh4 billion and launched an urgent appeal for additional funds to support farmers and rural communities to continue growing and selling food.
IFAD president Gilbert Houngbo said in a statement on Tuesday that the new multi-donor fund will mitigate the effects of the pandemic on food production, market access and rural employment.
“As part of the broader UN socio-economic response framework, the fund will ensure that farmers in the most vulnerable countries have timely access to inputs, information, markets and liquidity. On top of its own contribution, IFAD aims to raise at least Sh21.3 billion more from member states, foundations and the private sector,” he said.
Houngbo said the fallout from Covid-19 may push rural families even deeper into poverty, hunger and desperation, which is a real threat to global prosperity and stability.
“We need to act now to stop this health crisis from transforming into a food crisis. With immediate action, we can provide rural people with the tools to adapt and ensure a quicker recovery, averting an even bigger humanitarian crisis,” Houngbo said.
The UN agency confirmed that with movements restricted to contain further spread of the virus, many small-scale farmers are unable to access markets to sell produce or to buy inputs, such as seeds or fertiliser.
Houngbo said closures of major transport routes and export bans are also likely to hurt food systems, disrupting the entire production chain, leading to unemployment.
A recent United Nations study warned that in a worst-case scenario, the economic impact of the pandemic could push a further half-billion people into poverty. About 80 per cent of the world’s poorest and most food-insecure people live in rural areas. Even before the outbreak, more than 820 million people were going hungry every day.
Houngbo said the pandemic is threatening the gains made in reducing poverty over the past years.
“To avoid serious disruption to rural economies, it is essential to ensure agriculture, food chains, markets and trade continue to function. A timely response to the pandemic is an opportunity to rebuild the world’s food systems along more sustainable and inclusive lines and build the resilience of rural populations to a crisis, whether related to health, climate or conflict,” he said.
Edited by A.N