The International Monetary Fund (IMF), says the Ukraine war and COVID-19 have raised the number of food insecure in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to 123 million in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is contained in the overview of the Topic \u201cAnalytical Corner: Climate Change and Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa delivered at the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IMF and The World Bank Group 2022 Annual Meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annual meetings is holding in Washington DC from Monday, Oct.10 to Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The discussion was led by Mai Farid, African Department, IMF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farid said that successive shocks from the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic have heightened food prices and depressed incomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said this had raised the number of food insecure in SSA by at least 30 per cent to 123 million in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farid said the rising frequency and intensity of droughts, floods, and cyclones as well as higher temperatures and sea levels are set to exacerbate this number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe wide-ranging macroeconomic consequences of food insecurity can have lasting adverse effects, especially on economic growth and poverty. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said addressing the lack of resilience to climate change would require careful policy prioritisation against a backdrop of substantial financing and capacity constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farid said there were some key areas of focus that could be most impactful in addressing the food insecurity in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said one of the key areas was fiscal policies focused on social assistance and efficient public infrastructure investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis can improve poorer households\u2019 access to affordable food, facilitate the expansion of climate-resilient agricultural production, and support quicker recovery from adverse climate events\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said another area was improving digitalisation and telecommunications to support access to finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is key to stepping up private investment in agricultural resilience and productivity thus improving the earning capacity of poorer rural and urban households\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farid said greater regional trade integration, complemented with resilient transport infrastructure was another key area in addressing food insecurity in SSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u201dThis enables sales of one country\u2019s bumper harvests to its neighbors facing shortages, substantially improving households\u2019 welfare by reducing food insecurity and promoting the stability of food prices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said the international community could help with financial assistance, especially for social assistance and key infrastructure areas, capacity development, and facilitating transfers of technology and know-how.<\/p>\n\n\n
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), says the Ukraine war and COVID-19 have raised the number of food insecure in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to 123 million in 2022. This is contained in the overview of the Topic \u201cAnalytical Corner: Climate Change and Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa delivered at the IMF and The World Bank Group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[701,949],"tags":[259],"class_list":["post-45905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-economy","tag-food","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n