New fund to help farmers in poor countries weather economic crisis
IFAD, the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development, has committed $40 million to help farmers and rural communities to continue growing and selling food. It has also launched an urgent appeal for additional funds for the same purpose. It aims to raise at least $200 million more from member states, foundations and the private sector.
“With the covid-19 pandemic and economic slowdown threatening the lives and livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable people,” IFAD said, “this new multi-donor fund, the covid-19 Rural Poor Stimulus Facility, will mitigate the effects of the pandemic on food production, market access and rural employment.”
President of the IFAD, Gilbert Houngbo, commented: “We need to act now to stop this health crisis transforming into a food crisis. The fallout from covid-19 may push rural families even deeper into poverty, hunger and desperation, which is a real threat to global prosperity and stability. With immediate action, we can provide rural people with the tools to adapt and ensure a quicker recovery, averting an even bigger humanitarian crisis.”
The money will go towards supplying “inputs” for the production of crops, livestock and fisheries to small-scale producers so that they can weather the immediate effects of the economic crisis that will follow the health emergency.
It will facilitate access to markets to support small-scale farmers to sell their products in conditions in which restricted movement is interrupting the functioning of markets, including providing logistics and storage support.
With their movements restricted to contain further spread of the virus, many small-scale farmers are unable to access markets to sell produce or to buy seeds or fertiliser, the organisation went on to explain. The closure of major transport routes and export bans are also likely to affect food systems adversely.
As entire production chains are disrupted and unemployment rises, the most vulnerable include daily labourers, small businesses and informal workers, who are very often women and young people. The return of workers from cities affected by lockdowns will put further strain on rural households, which will also stop receiving much needed remittances.
About 80% of the world’s poorest and most food-insecure people live in rural areas. Even before the outbreak, more than 820 million people were going hungry every day. A recent United Nations study warned that, in a worst-case scenario, the economic impact of the pandemic could push a further half-billion people into poverty.
