One in eight people in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to suffer from high malnutrition this year, an increase of almost a third since 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.
The global organisation stated that this is mainly because of soaring food prices and depressed incomes.
The IMF estimated that at least 123 million people—12 per cent of the region’s population — will be unable to meet their minimum food consumption needs, 28 million more than just two years ago.
Severe drought across several countries has been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has disrupted exports of foodstuffs such as wheat and pushed up prices.
Severe climate incidents, which destroy crops and disrupt food transport, are disproportionately common in sub-Saharan Africa. The economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is another factor.
“These events are compounding mounting pressures from rapid population growth and a lack of resilience to climate change that have already contributed to food insecurity rising faster than in the rest of the world,” the IMF said in a report published at the weekend.
Chad and Senegal have been severely affected by torrential rains and floods, while East Africa is in the grip of its worst drought in at least four decades, a Bloomberg report said.
This significantly increased food insecurity as agricultural productivity is in some cases already less than half the global average, the IMF said, citing studies.
In Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Niger and Tanzania, each drought or flood raises food insecurity by five to 20 percentage points, according to the report.
To help mitigate the building humanitarian crisis, the IMF proposed sub-Saharan African nations offer greater social assistance to the hungry.
Targeted and far-reaching cash transfers are more effective than agricultural subsidies and help people buy food and rebuild after weather shocks, the lender said.
The IMF is also looking to expand its own role, proposing to increase access to emergency financing to low-income countries that are most vulnerable to changes in the cost of food.
Nations should invest more in infrastructure such as solar power that facilitates irrigation, water access and temperature control for food storage, the group said.
Digitalisation is also crucial, as it enables farmers to access early warning systems, mobile banking and technology platforms to purchase fertilisers, seeds, or sell produce, helping to connect small producers to large vendors, it added.
In Nigeria, the inflation rate surged to 20.52 per cent in August, the highest since September 2005, also driven by food prices.
The inflation figure rose from 19.64 per cent recorded in July, according to details of the inflation figures published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the NBS showed that Nigeria’s CPI rose by 1.77 per cent on a month-on-month basis, compared to the 1.82 per cent increase recorded in the previous month.
The new inflation rate raises concerns in Africa’s biggest economy, placing pressure on the apex bank to increase interest rates.
The NBS said that the urban inflation rate stood at 20.95 per cent, which is 3.36 per cent higher compared to the 17.59 per cent recorded in August 2021.
The rural inflation rate in August 2022 was 20.12 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 3.69 per cent higher compared to the 16.43 per cent recorded in August 2021.
The report added that food inflation rose to 23.12 per cent in August 2022 on a year-on-year basis, representing a 2.82 per cent increase when compared to 20.30 per cent in August 2021.
“This rise in the food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products like potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, oil and fat,” the report said.
Emmanuel Addeh
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