The African Development Bank (AfDB) has released a strategic roadmap to tackle coronavirus disruption to Africa’s vulnerable agricultural supply chains.

Under its Feed Africa Response to Covid-19 (FAREC) programme the multilateral bank has set out a series of projects that aim to help support resilience, sustainability and regional self-sufficiency in Africa’s food systems.

FAREC forms part of the AfDB’s broader Covid-19 response effort, which has earmarked up to $10bn to cushion African economies from the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. 

About 40 million people in west Africa face food shortages in the coming months, according to the UN’s World Food Programme. In some sub-Saharan countries more than 70% of the population will face issues sourcing food, says the IMF

“The bank’s response to support the agriculture sector lays out specific measures aimed at addressing challenges faced by African countries across all aspects of the agriculture sector. Africa cannot afford a food crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Jennifer Blanke, the bank’s vice president for Agriculture, Human and Social Development.