COVID-2019 AND THE PROBLEM OF FOOD SECURITY IN WEST AFRICA (2020-2022)
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Abstract
Since the end of 2019, several global events have knocked the international community, including West Africa, off the course toward ending hunger and malnutrition – the goals which according to the SDGs are to be achieved by 2030. Food insecurity has worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related measures to contain the spread of the disease. First of all, these measures affected the performance of the agricultural sector, where there was a significant underperformance of agricultural production. Other problems have also arisen that will affect the work of the industry for many years to come: these include the disruption of supply chains, the reduction in the number of livestock, the damage to large pasture areas, etc.
According to experts, the number of hungry people has increased significantly in recent years, and food insecurity has been particularly pronounced in East, West and Central Africa. The state of food security in West Africa, the second most populous African region (approximately 412.5 million people), shall lie in the focus of the present paper.
The paper attempts to highlight a number of problems of small farmers, the main producers of agricultural products on the continent, which have arisen or worsened due to the introduction of restrictive measures against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, in addition to weakening food security, has produced multiple economic and social impacts, both regional and national in scale. The present author draws a conclusion about the failure of the existing system of agricultural production due to the lack of funding for the industry and proposes a number of steps to stabilize the agricultural sector and improve the state of food security in the region in the event of a recurrence of emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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References
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