AFRICAN CONTINENT UNDER COVID19 SHADOW
The year 2019 remains a memory not to forget as the worst time. Covid19 virus changed how we used to do things.
no one was prepared to handle it. it came and left scars that are still present in our midst.
During the pandemic, Businesses were closed, schools were also shut temporarily,
as we were still practicing the precautions to limit the spread of the covid19 virus.
The lockdown and social amenities became limitation became a normal thing day after the other, and countries locked their borders to try and curb the spread of
the deadly virus, all these happened and we managed to overcome the situation.
The year 2020 was ushered as a year to recover from what we had lost, through the entire pandemic phase, Borders were opened, and wearing of face mask became optional. on the other hand, as we all know business is something that takes time to revive again,
when we thought we had conquered it all and things were going on the right track another conflict occurred between the European countries, Russia and Ukraine,
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24th 2022, a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war that began in 2014.
the invasion leads to the refugee crisis with nearly 7.05 million escaping the country. The invasion received wide condemnation,
and some countries began pulling sanctions to halt the Russian economy.
The United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America were the first countries that lead the sanctions on the Russian Government
The sanctions affected the global economies. Africa became affected by the invasion in terms of food supply and increase in prices. Many African countries for instance Kenya &
Uganda while still trying to recover from the Covid19 pandemic hence social-economic repercussions.
As we all know Russia and Ukraine are the breadbaskets hence large producers of wheat and sunflower to the African continent as the situation worsens, a lesson to Africa, it should also learn and reduce the reliance on the importation of food from outside and start being independent.
African countries, AUC,(African Union Commission )should learn a lesson and take this as a challenge as this might lower the starvation rate and also nutrition insecurities that occur without any alert.
The Russian -Ukraine conflict has once more given the African continent a “green light” to be self-reliance on both Food and Gas, more
funds should be pumped to the countries that produce Gas i.e. Tanzania, Angola, Libya, and Egypt on boosting production and the oil inefficiency.
In addition, this will not only increase food production but also expand Africa’s food basket.
We are facing climate change and as we all know our environment is at a very big threat,
we should act before any crisis emerge, we should also adopt the new technologies that yield sufficient food rather than depending on other sources.
This is the year that the African countries should take a turn back and invest largely in food programs and ensure that it’s accessible to everyone..
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