The world is afflicted with the coronavirus, and the consequences are severe for human and economic life. Nearly a million people lost their lives while fighting this disease, and many are still suffering from it. The world is locked up, and people are still staying at home. A virus impacted the personal and professional lives of people as a whole.
People need to discuss the food crisis during this pandemic. If you are interested in an informative discussion about food 2020, you can visit the ‘Sip’n in the kitchen’ website. Here you can find informative articles like these and some regarding food, drinks, and recipes.
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COVID-19 – The Hunger Pandemic
It is a vulnerable situation as there is a global economic recession. So many have lost employment, and many businesses have shut down due to losses. Unemployment has increased, which also leads to an increase in the number of people facing acute hunger. According to the projections, COVID-19 might be the worst global crisis the world has seen in decades.
It was around 13 years ago when the food prices spiked, which led to food shortage, riots, and demonstrations worldwide. This time, the reason will not be a price hike, but the number of people who can afford food will decrease due to the economic recession. The analysis shows that by the end of 2020, around 265 million people will be suffering the hunger crisis.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted countries that rely on humanitarian assistance for basic food aid. These countries do not have resources to control and protect livelihoods during a pandemic situation like this. It is also a severe issue for the people residing in the refugee camps of the conflict-affected countries.
Although it has been a few months into the pandemic, reports suggest that it might lead to profound food insecurity causing violent riots and looting in underdeveloped countries. The security forces have been assigned to protect the hospitals to prevent attacks while fighting crime.
Restrictions on Imports and exports
Most of the countries have already laid restrictions on food imports. There is a decline in imports, due to which food is in excess, but the number of countries who can afford it is decreasing. The situation in 2008 was quite different from this time, as food availability was a problem at that time.
Another issue that will make it difficult to recover from the hunger pandemic would be the selling price of food will decrease due to low demand. It means that the farmers will not be able to cope up with the cost of cultivation. According to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), food prices have declined to three percent compared to April 2019 and April 2020. There will be further decline until the pandemic situation ends.
Free Meals at Schools
Children who went to school used to get free meals are no longer getting it as the schools are now shut due to the pandemic. Around 65 million children used to take free meals at schools in Africa currently lack nutrition as they cannot afford it.
Countries suffering from an acute food crisis
According to the Analysis by the FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP), 27 countries are on the verge of suffering from the COVID-19 food-driven crisis as they already suffer from hunger at a large scale.
Countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Somalia, Yemen, and many others have started to show food insecurities and acute hunger symptoms. Most of them are underdeveloped countries that already suffered from hunger and economic crisis.
According to a survey, farmers in these countries are suffering from problems in accessing seeds. Since these countries’ economic condition is not in a good state, people cannot afford food. Besides, the farmers are also not able to produce it. They suffer from problems like accessing animal support and feed.
In short, there is a decline in production due to a lack of agricultural labor that leads to an increase in prices, resulting in unaffordability and deterioration of food security.
Reasons for the Increase in Food Insecurity and Acute Hunger
- Unemployment and low wages result in the unaffordability of food by people. Overseas workers who sent food to their relatives residing in underdeveloped countries are now spending less money on it.
- Increase in prices of food in the hotspot areas (countries suffering from food crisis).
- Disruptions in the production and supply process due to the pandemic have increased due to which it is hard to export and import food from other countries.
- The conflict between communities over water and land causes problems during production and in the market due to the pandemic’s political instability in the hotspot countries.
Hunger Hotspots
Ethiopia:
Desert locusts caused recent flooding and crop losses in Ethiopia, affected the Belg harvest from June and July. Other COVID-19 related impacts like migration measures also affected the production and supply of food.
Afghanistan:
According to reports, Afghanistan has already started to show symptoms of food insecurity. Food prices have increased by 20% during the pandemic.
Bangladesh:
The poverty rate in Bangladesh has now doubled to 40% due to the country’s economic crisis this pandemic. People have lost jobs and now can’t afford food and shelter.
Somalia:
Somalia also suffered from desert locust impacts that reduced their main harvest in July by up to 20-30 percent. The pandemic has also impacted the exports of the country. The export to Saudi Arabia is now expected to have 30-50 percent of the reduction.
The number of people with acute hunger is three times more than the previous year.
In countries like Haiti and Sierra Leone, rainfall and floods have caused problems in food production, whereas, in countries like Zimbabwe and Yemen, the food prices have increased lavishly.