Drought, the after-effects of COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have combined to create a monstrous food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. Even in an area spared from drought, one despondent farmer said he and his family feared for their lives as the pandemic and war in Ukraine made fertilizer and labor too expensive to produce crops.
“It is not only my farm, but the majority of us because of these hardships,” he said. “I am just wondering how we can survive, our wives and children, how we can feed our families until next farming season.”
Last year researchers warned that COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, which had supplied African countries with wheat, would have devastating effects on the global food supply chain, creating shortages in natural gas and fertilizer. Now 146 million people in Africa are going hungry.
Locust swarms had already devastated the lives and livelihoods of people in many parts of Africa. The distraught farmer said, “Feeding alone is a big challenge to us, so we are calling on people like you to support us to live.”
Native Christian workers are bringing critically needed food and other aid to households with nothing to eat. And the wells they have dug to provide fresh water have saved lives.