This number is projected to nearly double due to the coronavirus pandemic, with food emergencies affecting countries that have not required interventions in the past.
In our yesterday’s edition the World Health Organisation (WHO) country rep sounded similar alarms that The Gambia has faced a challenging time of food insecurity in the last decade.
Yasuhiro Tsumura was speaking at the launch of Comprehensive Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) held at Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Conference Centre recently.
The CFSVA in 2011, according to him, showed that 11% of the population was food insured. This startling revelation indicates that while global hunger continues to rise amid the coronavirus pandemic, countries are not doing enough or little efforts to save the world's children from this looming humanitarian catastrophe.
In view of this looming catastrophe, countries need to take a new paradigm shift from becoming dependent on foreign aid to transforming and making full use of its agric potentials.
The pandemic has not spared even the small businesses much more than the established ones. At the moment even global economies are badly recovering from this devastating corona impact.
The government needs to step-up effort to address this issue. It is no hidden secret that the prevalence of malnutrition could seriously undermine or retard national development. The government needs to invest in the nutrition sector.
The hunger crisis will have dramatic implications in many areas. We must bear in mind that hunger, both acute and chronic, can also impede children’s education and career prospects. This development comes amid a surge in the price of basic food commodities, which remains unsolved.
We, therefore, call on the government and partners to invest more in supporting disadvantaged families by providing them with food supplies to alleviate their daily sufferings.
Also, it is high time The Gambia changed from depending on foreign imports to consuming or feeding on what it produced. This is even good for the country especially in achieving some of her sustainable development goals.