Countries should act now to stop the coronavirus pandemic transforming into a food crisis, the head of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Monday.
“The fallout from coronavirus may push rural families even deeper into poverty, hunger and desperation, which is a real threat to global prosperity and stability,” Gilbert Houngbo noted.
TURKEY IS A SELF-SUFFICIENT COUNTRY IN TERMS OF FOOD
The IFAD launched a $40 million package to support farmers and rural communities, the fund said in a press release.
It expects to raise this fund by $200 million with contributions from member states, foundations and the private sector. “Many small-scale farmers are unable to access markets to sell products or to buy inputs, such as seeds or fertilizer,” it recalled.
“A recent United Nations University study warned that in a worst-case scenario, the economic impact of the pandemic could push a further half-billion people into poverty,” it stressed. Meanwhile, experts say Turkey is a self-sufficient country in terms of food, especially agricultural production.