The United States has announced that it will contribute an additional $215 million in emergency help to ten African countries as the continent grapples with food insecurity driven on by climate change, the Covid outbreak, and the conflict in Ukraine.
Anthony Blinken said this before a meeting with the foreign affairs ministers of Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania, South Africa, Zambia, and Senegal at the United Nations headquarters in New York, according to a statement released by the US Department of State on Wednesday.
The countries that will benefit are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
The United Nations warned on Wednesday that if a growing global food crisis is not addressed, it may endure years.
The inability of the two countries to export wheat, corn, cooking oil, and fertilisers caused a global food and fertiliser deficit after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Blinken said; “First, we’re addressing the humanitarian needs caused by the war of aggression against Ukraine. Just since February, the United States has pledged more than $2.3 billion of food assistance. And pending final approval from our Congress, we’ll provide more than $5bn in additional aid, including more than $760m specifically for global food security.
“Plus, today we’re announcing an additional $215m for emergency food assistance in Algeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mauritania, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya, among other countries.”
Blinken also stated that his country is striving to address the global fertilizer shortfall by increasing domestic production, noting that President Joe Biden just pledged an extra $250 million, bringing the total investment in American fertilizer production this year to $500 million.
The Secretary of State also stated that the US was focused on long-term agricultural resilience, praising the African Development Bank for its $1 billion initiative to assist 40 million African farmers in adopting climate-resilient technologies and increasing crop yields.