• Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, some 135 million were experiencing food crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.
• Out of which 27 million people in emergency levels of acute food insecurity were on the brink of famine according to FAO.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization is seeking Sh37.3 billion to fight hunger and support livelihoods during the Covid-19 pandemic.
FAO says although the pandemic's full-scale and long-term impact on food security is yet to be known, evidence shows that in countries already hit by acute hunger, people are increasingly struggling to access food as incomes fall and commodity prices rise.
QU Dongyu, FAO director-general, warned that planting seasons will be missed, cultivation will drop significantly and animals will be lost if farmers do not have access to their fields, seeds and other inputs to plant or buy feed for their animals. This, he said, means that less food will become available in both rural and urban areas.
"We cannot wait until we finish dealing with the health impacts before we turn to food security. If we don't start implementing livelihoods assistance now, we will face multiple food crises. This is a bill many times greater," Dongyu warned at a briefing on Monday.
The UN agency has revised its humanitarian response to Covid-19.
FAO data shows 42 million people are facing acute food insecurity in East Africa and the Near East, and that curbing the desert locust outbreak is critical to safeguarding livelihoods and food security.
Ramesh Rajasingham, acting assistant secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, said it is becoming increasingly clear that the pandemic's impacts go far beyond health.
“Acting early can prevent increasing vulnerabilities but also be a much more cost-effective way of addressing this crisis. The role of emergency livelihood interventions and pulling back people from the verge of famine is critical," he said.
He said agriculture-based livelihoods are critical in most countries where they work in because they are the main source of income for the majority of vulnerable populations. The people, he said, rely on seasons that cannot be missed or skipped.
“More and more global leaders are stressing that the pandemic could cost more lives in hunger than in those actually infected by the virus. The worst-case scenario is not a foregone conclusion, but we have to act fast,” said Dominique Burgeon, FAO's Director of Emergencies.
The humanitarian response fund will focus on improving hunger data collection and analysis so that organisations can respond more effectively.
It will also help in maintaining food production, ramping up support to post-production activities, like harvesting, storage, small-scale food processing and conservation.
The fund will also help in linking producers to markets to ensure food supply chains stay functional, and raise awareness so that people keeping food supply chains alive are not at risk of Covid-19 transmission.
“While there is a high potential for a significant rise in acute food insecurity at a crisis level and above in the coming months, this is not inevitable. If we support livelihoods now we can help to reduce needs and avoid growing hunger. And protect the most vulnerable from the collateral effects of the pandemic," Dongyu said.
Edited by P.O