Coronavirus: IFAD creates a fund to avoid a food crisis in rural areas

Text by: Jean-Baptiste Sourou

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is concerned about the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on the well-being, livelihoods and food security of the rural poor. The UN agency has just set up a prevention mechanism and plans to raise some $ 200 million by May 4, 2020.

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According to Fida, the current health crisis threatens to destroy the progress made in the world in reducing rural poverty and worsening food insecurity. In an attempt to prevent it, this UN agency is launching a fund called the “  Covid-19 stimulus mechanism for the rural poor  ”. It is part of the socio-economic response provided by the United Nations system to the current health crisis.

► Read also: Albert Zeufack (World Bank): "A food crisis could add to the recession in Africa" 

According to the president of the Fida, Gilbert Houngbo, the rural people "  could be even more plunged in poverty, hunger and despair, which would constitute a real threat for the world prosperity and stability  ".

To avoid such a scenario, "  it is necessary, he specifies, to take immediate measures and give rural populations the means to adapt and recover more quickly, so as to avoid a humanitarian crisis of greater magnitude  " .

The direct impact of containment measures

Indeed, following the containment measures imposed by the States to prevent the spread of the virus, some small farmers can no longer access markets to sell their products or buy inputs: seeds, fertilizers, fertilizers, small equipment and others. In addition, the closure of major highways and export bans are hampering the sale of products and access to cash.

Abdoul Barry, Deputy Director of Fida in West and Central Africa - Coastal Countries (which has 9 countries, from Sierra Leone to Nigeria with Niger and Burkina Faso) and representative of the agency in Côte d ' Ivoire deplores the fact that the mango sector is already well affected, which allows Côte d'Ivoire to export some 32,000 tonnes of this fruit per year to Europe and benefits at least 120,000 households.

"  I have had discussions, " he said, " with some exporters who had firm orders, but they cannot fulfill them because the markets are closed. As the movement of goods becomes difficult, the large exporters are closed. Importers cannot honor their commitments either. There are a lot of contracts that have been canceled and suddenly West African exporters, especially those from Côte d'Ivoire, which is the leading mango exporting country in West Africa, or even in Africa, find themselves with their unsold products, because the importers no longer have the means and in addition the physical markets no longer exist. Here there is another problem also with the confinement certainly, the displacements are a little difficult. So there is all the packaging that needs to be done, transport from the interior to the port and after from the port. All this is logistics that no longer works. The mango campaign started on April 12 and should last three months, but the whole circuit does not work any more and there is a risk that we will end up with a lot of mangoes which will not be sold by boats for example  ”. The same is true for several other agricultural production chains on which rural people around the world depend.

Unemployment in sight

These dysfunctions on several levels, it is estimated at the Fida, cause the explosion of unemployment, in particular among the daily workers, the small companies and all those which intervene in the formal sector, in this case young people and women.

In addition to the 820 million people in the world who were not already eating enough before the pandemic, an additional half a billion people could be added. "  We must act now to prevent this health crisis from becoming a food crisis,  " said Gilbert Houngbo at the launch of the Mechanism.

Articulated in 4 points, the stimulus mechanism desired by IFAD must allow:

• provide smallholders with inputs for agricultural production, livestock and fisheries
• provide them with logistical support and storage facilities to overcome restrictions on freedom of movement
• provide them with sufficient liquidity through targeted funds for rural services and facilitate the repayment of short-term loans to maintain the services, markets and jobs of the rural poor
• Finally, the funds raised must make it possible to guarantee the dissemination of important information on weather conditions, financial services and the markets by digital means.

IFAD has put in the basket a sum of 40 million dollars and intends to raise an additional 200 million from member states, foundations and private individuals to prevent the current health crisis from becoming a food crisis. Because if the rural environment would suffer in the first place, many urban agglomerations would also suffer the effects, especially in developing countries where they depend on food production in the countryside.

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