COVID-19 and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa: implications of lockdown during agricultural planting seasons

Résumé

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is one of the most vulnerable regions to the social and economic impacts of COVID-19. Vulnerability of SSA is attributed to several factors including; poor health facilities in many SSA countries and low capacity for testing, timely detection and response to COVID-19 cases 1 , 2 . In particular, the initial movement restrictions (complete and partial lockdown) imposed by countries coincided with the planting periods (important in the agricultural calendar) for most of the staple crops in the region. SSA accounts for nearly 13% of the population globally, with the proportion of the population living in poverty and undernourished remains high among the rural communities 3 . Agriculture remains the main source of livelihood 4 , 5 and food security for majority of the rural population in SSA, with the climatic conditions favouring cultivation of diverse crops. Agricultural production is mainly rain-fed, with pockets of irrigated land. For example, Western Africa accounts for more than 60% agricultural output from the SSA, over the past 24 years, but Land degradation and climate change are now posing additional threats to agriculture 6 , 7 , 8 . In terms of agricultural sector spending, less than 20% of the SSA countries have achieved their commitments as per the Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the situation is likely to worsen with the COVID-19 movement restrictions put in place by African countries. The movement restriction measures adds to the hardships and challenges faced by nearly 1.3 billion people in Africa 2 , especially those working in the informal sector, the larger percentage of these people rely on daily wages and are living in poverty, with less than one dollar a day 9 .

Citer ce document

Accès au document

Ce document est hébergé sur son dépôt institutionnel d'origine.

Auteur(s)

Statistiques

Consultations : 1

Téléchargements : 0