One of the stories I picked up in the FT this morning is comments by John-Arne Røttingen of the Wellcome charitable foundation, expressing worries about the change in aid to African countries.
Røttingen’s remarks mainly focused on the health impact, especially for countries that lack the fiscal space to close the gaps left by the reduction in USAID funds and the reduction in other Western countries’ assistance.
The one aspect that I am also particularly worried about is food insecurity in some African countries. The funding cuts to USAID also impact the World Food Programme (roughly half of the WFP budget is from USAID).
Yes, we may not see the immediate impact of all this currently in food insecurity levels, as the sub-Saharan Africa region has a reasonably good agricultural season.
However, when supplies are depleted later in the year or we encounter droughts, we will see the shock to households. Of course, the idea is not to rely solely on aid; countries must improve their conditions. But the decline should have been more gradual, and not this significant, sharp and abrupt decline we see.
This is a wake-up call for the African governments. On food security matters, amongst other interventions, the African continent needs to invest more in boosting its agricultural output, and the adoption of high-yielding seed cultivars is key.
This is key to improving food security conditions, along with necessary interventions such as improving land governance, infrastructure, and limiting government interventions in agricultural markets, among other measures, all of which are crucial for long-term agricultural growth in the sub-Saharan African region.
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