Vision Logo Circle
Vision Logo Circle

COVID-19 Sparks Fears of Food Shortages

by | Thu, Jul 1 2021

Text size: A- A+
[addthis tool="addthis_inline_share_toolbox_q56i"]
african woman talking to man in surgical mask
Photo credit: facebook.com/aeaustralia

Author: Ben Campbell

‘For I was hungry and you fed me’ (Matthew 25:35 NLT)

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised serious concerns about food security in Africa. From the start of the pandemic, it has been feared that economic recession, along with disruptions to food supply chains, would leave Africa on the brink of starvation.

Africa imports more food than it exports, and relies on countries like India, Russia, Cambodia, and Vietnam for staple grains. Fortunately, the initial pandemic-related export ban from these countries was lifted, and grain exports to Africa were resumed. During 2020, various African governments and organisations also took action to increase Africa’s grain imports.

But increased grain imports have not been able to compensate for the impact of the pandemic, which has reversed years of economic development in Africa. Widespread job losses have led to food insecurity. This has been compounded in some regions by ongoing conflict, locust plagues, droughts and floods.

As a result, over 100 million people in Africa are currently experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

100 million is overwhelming. But each one is an individual – with a basic human need to eat. And to feed their family.

Last year, beneficiaries of Ghana’s WIN project were equipped with the skills and equipment to safely process cassava into “gari” (flour made from the cassava root). Rachel Ohene describes how this vocational training project helped her feed her family during 2020’s COVID lockdown:

“This project could not have come at a better time than this. Little did we know that gari was going to become the food saviour for Ghana this year. African Enterprise, God bless you for your foresight. You came in at the right time to offer us the right job. May the Lord richly bless the donors of African Enterprise. Their generosity has been a mind-blower. I have decided to buy the raw material – cassava from the farmers in and around Akropong so that I can process it to gari with the help of the milling machine African Enterprise has provided. I know in the coming days gari will be in high demand.”

In 2021, African Enterprise is preparing to launch a vocational training program in Togo which will provide skills, seeds and equipment so that needy participants can start vegetable-growing businesses.

Because they were hungry. And Jesus simply told us to feed them.


Article supplied with thanks to African Enterprise – a mission and development organisation based in 11 African countries, drawing the churches together for mission activities and coordinating development, training and discipleship programs.

You Might Also Like to Read…

A Doctor in Africa – Dr Andrew Browning

Dr Andrew Browning talks about the extra challenges that Covid brings to healthcare in poverty stricken Africa.

Designed by God to transform from the inside

What started as a one-month commitment in 1979, quickly turned into something more for Rose

Christian Response to Chaos in South Africa

Looters in South Africa have been running riot across the country, burning down shops, malls, and vehicles with impunity. In this time of chaos, a Christians are stepping up to provide much needed relief in the name of Jesus.

Meet the Australian Surgeon Changing the Lives of Women in Africa

Two million African women suffer from obstetric fistulas. Dr Andrew Browning is making a huge impact on these numbers, operating on over 7,000 women during the past 20 years.