After Ebola: Why Rural Development Matters in a Time of Crisis

COMMENTARY:  HUFFINGTON POST  by Kanayo F. Nwanze President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)                                                                                                                                 Jan. 26, 2015

....Now we must begin to look at what happens to the affected communities after Ebola. A food crisis seems increasingly likely to follow in the wake of the epidemic, which has devastated small-scale farmers. Without investment in their long-term development, farming households - and West Africa's future food security - will remain at risk.

Even before the outbreak, the World Food Programme estimated that some 1.7 million people in the region faced food insecurity - defined as a lack of reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food. As a direct result of Ebola, it is expected that an additional 750,000 to 1.4 million people will become food-insecure by March.

In fact, Ebola has already affected the food supply. Farmers have stayed away from their fields due to illness, fears of infection and quarantines ordered by the authorities - or simply because there is no one left to tend the land....

Microfinance programmes are being undermined due to non-payment of loans by participants, including women farmers and rural entrepreneurs, who have fallen ill or suffered financial losses from Ebola. These defaults could lead to a regional credit squeeze, further compromising production by farmers who must borrow during planting season to buy seeds and other inputs....

Read complete article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kanayo-f-nwanze/after-ebola-why-rural-dev_b_6547910.html