Virtual AU-FAO Ministerial Meeting on the Implications of COVID19 on Food Security in Africa

Director-General’s Opening Remarks: Virtual AU-FAO Ministerial Meeting on the implications of COVID19 on Food Security in Africa

Zoom, Thursday, 16 April 2020, 14:00hrs-17:00hrs (CET)

 

Thank you my dear friend, Commissioner, Her Excellency Josefa Sacko.

Honorable Ministers,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you all, it is a great honour for us to participate at this this High-Level Meeting.

My appreciation goes to the African Union co-organizing this event with FAO. I am pleased that we offered the necessary services to you in the past weeks.

This is an important opportunity to consult and dialogue between the African Ministers for Agriculture and the strategic partners, on the implications of COVID-19 for food security and agriculture in Africa. COVID-19 poses an extraordinary challenge, not only as a major public health concern, but also because of its social and economic implications at global, regional, national and local levels.

The global recession, caused by the pandemic, is making a significant dent on the economies of developing countries, and African countries are among the hardest hit. Governments have rightly been introducing measures to contain the spread of the virus. It is, however, necessary that those measures do not lead to disruptions of food production, markets and supply chains. There are legitimate reasons to be concerned.

Measures that restrict movement of people and goods hinder production activities, obstructing timely delivery of agricultural inputs and services, or disrupting the marketing of products, particularly high value and fresh crops.

We must pay due attention to agricultural seasonality and use information of crop calendars. That idea came from discussions with the Secretary-General, Mr Guterres. I strongly recommended him to talk to all leaders in vulnerable countries and in Africa as well. To talk to your leaders to understand what agricultural seasonality is – crop calendars. This is because, still, in many countries there are small numbers of cases so it is high time to harvest and plant quicker, to do more. That is the guidance to governments on how to safeguard the harvest and planting.

I know that the Ministers of Agriculture know that, but we need more political commitment and support to your initiatives and actions. Border closures restrict trade and limit food availability in many countries, particularly those dependent on food imports, including several African countries and Small Island Developing States.

I would like to recognize and commend the leadership in the countries where due consideration has been paid to the continued functioning of the food supply chains as essential services. This includes emergency operations in agriculture, such as the control of Desert Locust in East Africa. Since January of this year, FAO’s work focused on Desert Locust control and we mobilized many resources to support this. Please make use of this to be as efficient as possible. If we do not control the Desert Locust situation at the right time, we will have an overlap of disasters.

We must also acknowledge the efforts of some African countries to adopt a mindful approach when designing and implementing their responses to the pandemic. Many models applied elsewhere will not work for Africa. In Africa, much of the food is not bought in supermarkets, but in open air village markets, what we call free markets, on the sides of streets. This involves many informal economic actors, most of them without adequate fall-back positions.

How we maintain these food supply systems and livelihoods needs to be carefully considered. You know, as you are working in the field, each country has different conditions and situations. You have to carefully consider what the most pragmatic approach is to maintain the food supply system.

The COVID-19 pandemic overlays with other crises in Africa, some caused by climate variability and extremes such as drought and floods, or outbreak of transboundary pests and diseases such as the Desert Locust, and others that are man-made, such as conflicts. As a result, we have tens of millions of people already in acute food insecurity situations. In sub-Saharan Africa, a quarter of the population is undernourished.

Excellencies,

Safe food and nutrition is an essential part of the health response. The fact that in the African context, the COVID-19 crises intertwines with food crises calls for a holistic approach to address the public health concerns and food security consideration in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.

We need to act quickly and strategically. We need to work together to ensure that disruptions in food supply chains are minimized as much as possible in the short-term, and to improve the resilience of agriculture production in the medium and long term.

Effective safety nets are needed to protect livelihoods. We need to produce more, better, and locally. In Africa there are many smallholder farmers, so it is a good time to change, and to produce better locally, ensure health and shorten supply chains. Let us also take advantage of regional and interregional trade opportunities. In doing so, it is important that health and safety protocols and measures are respected, while food systems are kept operational.

We must ensure properly functioning food markets and informed decision-making by all actors along the food value chains. This requires that information on prices, production, consumption and stocks of food is available to all in real time. In FAO we are willing to support all of the necessary data and projects surrounding this.

Our sympathy and solidarity also goes to the resource partner countries that were among the hardest hit by the pandemic. We have to try our best to find non-traditional donors for resource mobilization. I have already asked my colleagues to work on that, so let us work together. On one hand, we have asked traditional donors, however we also need to find potential non-traditional donors. We understand that they have largely been inward looking in their early measures. However, we need to remind them that a global challenge such as COVID-19 requires a global response and global solidarity.

Today, international cooperation is needed more than ever. To overcome shocks such as COVID-19 joint efforts and concerted actions are needed. I am confident that through your commitment, leadership, effective cooperation and partnerships, together we shall overcome this global challenge. Let us work

together, learn together and contribute together. FAO is willing to offer more tangible and concrete services for Member Countries, especially in Africa.

Thank you very much.

Over to you, Honourable Josefa Sacko.