World’s worst food crisis

Subject: IR

Context:

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was facing the world’s largest food crisis, with around 21.8 million of its people being food insecure primarily due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a report released by the Global Network Against Food Crises alliance of humanitarian agencies said.

Concept:

• The indirect impact of COVID‑19 on livelihoods and economic activities, as well as pre‑existing macro‑economic challenges, significantly reduced the purchasing power of vulnerable households in 2020, particularly in urban areas.
• Burkina Faso had also been suffering from an acute food crisis besides the DRC, the report said. The country witnessed a nearly 300 per cent uptick in the overall number of people experiencing acute hunger since the start of 2020.
• Acute food insecurity was also being reported from northern Nigeria (73 per cent increase), Somalia (67 per cent increase) and Sudan (64 per cent increase).
• The current food crisis was the biggest the world had seen for 50 years.
• The report emphasised that addressing the urgent issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in food crisis contexts was crucial.