Interview with FAO Assistant Director-General Haile-Gabriel

For today's interview, we speak to Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa.

Can you give us an idea of the growing direct impact that COVID-19 is having on Africa, with special regard to food and agriculture? What are the current projections for the near future?

COVID-19 is having direct and immediate impact in terms of reduced access to food by a significant segment of the population in Africa. There have been disruptions in food supply chains, which are the unintended consequences of the measures introduced towards containment of the spread of the virus.

Livelihoods of vulnerable people are being affected which will have knock-on effects on their ability to access a balanced and healthy diet. School feeding programmes have been suspended because of school closures and that is impacting the immediate nutrition of children.

As Africa remains a net food importer, there will likely be effects on imports, depending on how the pandemic affects Africa’s trade with the rest of the world, and how quickly the pandemic could be controlled. There will also be potential disruptions to agricultural exports, of both intra-regional and extra-regional trade dimensions.

Agriculture in Africa is season-sensitive preoccupation, much of it is dependent on weather conditions and patterns. Timely availability of farm inputs and operation of activities determine the level of food production. Disruptions in inputs supply chains such as seeds, fertilizer or mobility of labor will destabilize the production system with pernicious consequences in the medium and longer term.

In the African context, the COVID-19 pandemic overlays other challenges which reproduce food crises situations, some of which are climate induced such as drought and floods or transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases; others are manmade such as conflicts and instability.

Already prior to the pandemic, 239 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were undernourished. COVID-19 will further compound the effects of these challenges and exacerbate the already precarious situation in Africa, making the tasks towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 much more daunting.

Outlooks on Africa’s economies are not very encouraging. Many African countries may face significant economic slowdowns and even recessions. Given the weak and vulnerable systems and limited bailout options available in many African countries, we should be very much wary that the impact of COVID-19 would be more pronounced here and possibly with a lasting impact compared to other regions.


The Eastern Africa region has been hit hard by the recent Desert Locust upsurge. Are efforts to contain the locust outbreak being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

COVID-19 has twinned with the shock of the Desert Locust upsurge, aggravating the already-vulnerable food security situation in East Africa. There have been some restrictions in movement of personnel, equipment and supplies due to the pandemic, but currently there is no significant slowdown because all the affected countries are working closely with FAO and placing Desert Locust control as an essential national priority. So far, FAO has been providing support for surveillance and safe aerial and ground spraying in 10 affected countries, which contributed to reductions in locust populations.

FAO’s digital tool eLocust3 is also being used to collect data from locust infestation sites and transmit it via satellite to provide real time information for immediate and effective action. There are legitimate concerns that the recent widespread rains in the region may have created conducive conditions for another generation of breeding causing locust numbers to increase further in the coming months.


Africa has made a commitment to end hunger by 2025. What will it take to make significant progress with respect to this initiative?

Partnerships have been stronger than ever. Recently, FAO and the African Union, together with 45 Ministers of Agriculture from AU Member States as well as some strategic partners, made a joint Declaration to commit to safeguarding food security amid the crisis. FAO also recently brought together private sector partners in a constructive dialogue, who are vital actors in keeping the food supply chain active, to discuss risks and solutions amid the current crisis. We will continue to deepen this engagement also with other stakeholders such as the parliamentarians, CSOs, the academia and research community, among others.

FAO has been providing much needed technical assistance as well as mobilisation of resources for governments to design and implement effective policies and programmes to meet the goals of ending hunger and poverty. FAO offices at country, sub-regional, regional and HQ levels are closely working with country, regional and international partners, also as part of the UN teams, to anticipate and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on food security and livelihoods and to support the COVID-19 mitigation efforts on food trade and markets.

COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to look at the gaps in our current food system in the face of a global crisis, and collaborative interventions will not only provide immediate support to fight against the impacts of COVID-19, but can also help strengthen the system in the future to achieve resilient and more sustainable food systems in the region.

We are only five years away from 2025, and for Africa to meet the goal of ending hunger by 2025, there seems to exist fewer options other than speeding up and scaling up sustainable actions on the ground for a speedy recovery and sustainable transformation. Investments on innovation and transformational approaches are absolutely necessary, taking advantage of emerging opportunities such as digital agriculture.