Development partners meet to address Africa’s food security amid COVID-19
In 2018, over 200 million people in Africa were undernourished due to food shortages. The advent of coronavirus has added another dimension to this issue. An examination of these problems led to the World Bank and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convening a virtual conference to put together a response plan to address these issues.
A recent BBC Focus on Africa segment featured an interview with CGIAR-IITA Director of Advocacy and Country Alignment Function (ACAF), Kwesi Atta-Krah, during which he explained some of the challenges facing African agriculture and food security during the pandemic. Atta-Krah spoke about the likely negative impact of the crisis, especially if it is prolonged. He said this is mainly due to our food supply relying heavily on smallholder farmers who are mostly over the age of 50.
