By Nasratu Kargbo
President of the ECOWAS Commission Omar Alieu Touray has assured of his organization’s support to help Sierra Leone and six other countries that are most affected by food insecurity.
Touray made this commitment on behalf of ECOWAS on the 10th of May 2023 at ECOWAS parliament’s first ordinary session 2023. He explained that they will mobilize resources to finance projects to help support Sierra Leone.
“The ECOWAS Commission will continue to mobilise resources for the financing of projects and programmes in support of the Member States, and more particularly in 2023 in support of the implementation of the national response plans of the countries currently most affected namely, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone,” said the President.
Speaking on the key actions taken to address food insecurity, he said that the ECOWAS region is faced with a series of challenges that aggravate food and nutrition crises.
The President stated that among the challenges is the persistent inflation, which according to him has limited households' ability to access sufficient nutritious food, adding that the harmful effects of climate change have made food systems also fragile.
Touray said that despite the good production, about 29.5 million people needed emergency food and nutritional assistance. He said: “If appropriate measures are not taken, this figure could rise to 42.5 million people during the lean season between June and August 2023”.
He explained that 107.5 million people are estimated to be food insecure, saying there could be a fall in crisis in the event of shocks.
Touray said there is a persistent nutrition crisis in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad, where nearly 16.5 million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition.
Speaking on what they have done, Touray stated that their organization in tandem with other partners across the region had provided a response to food and nutrition insecurity in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 in the following countries- Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Chad.
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