Food Alert In West Africa’s Ebola-Affected Countries

INTRODUCTION

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says access to food is becoming a major concern for many people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The three countries have suffered the worst of the Ebola virus disease outbreak. Neighboring countries are not faring any better foodwise.

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Bukar Tijani, FAO Regional Representative for Africa, says “with the main harvest now at risk and trade and movements of goods severely restricted, food insecurity is poised to intensify in the weeks and months to come. The situation will have long-lasting impact on farmers’ livelihoods and rural economies,” he added. The food alert issued comes in the wake of the worst Ebola epidemic ever witnessed. Due to restrictions in movement and fears of infection, farmers in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are not tending to their crops, and food prices in most West African countries are on the rise.

FAO says Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are all cereal importers, with Liberia being the most reliant on external supplies. The closure of some border crossings and the isolation of border areas where the three countries intersect – as well as reduced trade from seaports, the main conduit for large-scale commercial imports – are resulting in tighter supplies and sharply increasing food prices.

In a recently-conducted rapid market assessment in Monrovia, Liberia, the results indicate that prices of some food items have increased rapidly. For example, in some parts of Monrovia, the price of cassava went up to 150 percent within the first weeks of August.

“Even prior to the Ebola outbreak, households in some of the affected areas were spending up to 80% of their incomes on food,” said Vincent Martin, head of FAO’s Dakar-based Resilience Hub, which is coordinating the agency’s response. “Now, these latest price spikes are effectively putting food completely out of their reach. This situation may have social repercussions that could lead to subsequent impact on the disease containment.”

The depreciation of national currencies in Sierra Leone and Liberia, in recent months, is expected to exert further upward price pressure on imported food commodities. To meet short-term food relief needs, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has launched a regional emergency operation targeting some 65,000 tons of food for 1.3 million people. 

Preventing further loss of human life and stopping the spread of the virus remain to be everyone’s top priority. 

 

 

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