Ebola threatens West Africa's food security

The Ebola epidemic is raising serious concerns about food
security in Liberia -- the country hardest hit by the outbreak
in West Africa. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
will conduct rapid assessments of the situation.
Food security in Liberia is being threatened on a number of
fronts mostly due to fear of infection. For example, food
imported by ships and planes may not arrive as often. And
Liberian farmers, who often work in groups to boost
production, are not doing so.
Joseph Boiwu, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's
Assistant Country Representative for Program in Liberia,
"This is a serious situation that we all need to be very
concerned about. Even prices are increasing. If ships are
not coming into this country - we depend mostly on imports
- what about food? Those are serious concerns that we
need to take on board and think about Liberia."
Ebola has spread in the farming regions.
"As we speak, you will notice the total number of cases in
this country has reached up to 1,378. And Lofa County is
one of the breadbasket counties of this country. And the
cases they have are up to 542. So, all the counties,
including Nimba, are affected," he said.
The World Health Organization regularly issues updated
figures on the Ebola outbreak. So, the numbers mentioned
by Boiwu at the time of the interview may rise.
Efforts are underway to persuade Liberian farmers to return
to working in groups. But the FAO's Boiwu said that's
easier said than done.
"One of the methods that they have given that will help
people to stay away from Ebola is to avoid being in groups.
So farmers, they are not in groups again. We have been
trying to organized farmer-based organizations, where you
have farmers working in groups. And individual farming is
very small. They can't produce sufficient [food] as
individuals, so we encourage them to work in groups. But
group farming now is just not possible due to this Ebola. So
they are all afraid."
What's more, movement has been restricted in some
Liberian counties.
The FAO has been monitoring food prices in Monrovia. For
example, the price of the staple cassava is reported to have
increased by 150-percent. Pepper is up 133-percent. The
U.N. agency's rapid assessments will determine what the
food price hikes are outside of the capital.
The agency said that there's "urgent need for short-cycled
vegetable production... as well as urgent support for
fishermen... to enable them to increase their catch."
Health officials believe the Ebola virus was transmitted from
animals - bats and monkeys, for example - to humans. The
FAO will conduct a risk assessment of animal/human
contact and develop safeguards. The assessment is
expected to lead to an early warning surveillance system
that could quickly detect the presence of infected wildlife -
and trigger effective public health measures.
Boiwu said, "Most of the people like hunters, like farmers,
they depend on meat - their source of protein. So we'll also
conduct an analysis of their value chain situation of
bushmeat. When we have this information we think it's
going to help with Ebola from our perspective."
Rapid assessments of food security are also scheduled to
get underway in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The FAO's sister agency, the World Food Program, reported
it's "scaling-up" its operations, not only in Liberia, but
neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea. The WFP says the
goal is to reach one-million people in Ebola affected areas
with food deliveries.