Ousmane Diallo, 38, decided to go live in the countryside after finishing his studies in Conakry (Guinea) because "he felt he had to help depopulate the cities."
He bought eight hectares of arable land in Mandiana, one of the most remote and poorest places in the country, some 730 kilometers east of the capital, and went to work.
In this area, 80% of the population lives from mining, but Diallo decided to change coal for rice and corn because "he saw agricultural potential in the region," he says by phone from his farm.
At the beginning, six years ago, he did not do very well because the seeds he planted produced different varieties of crops.
However, with the support of the World Bank's West African Agricultural Productivity Development Program (WAAPP), it began to produce more than two tons of rice per hectare per year and was able to start exporting.
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Now he grows all kinds of fruits and vegetables: from papayas and oranges to tons of bananas that he sold abroad.
He did so until the Covid-19 arrived and with it the closures at the borders of the countries to protect themselves from the pandemic.
During the quarantine months, this farmer suffered huge losses in his fresh food production.
He has still not been able to recover: "I couldn't even bring someone to the farm to help me control the pests, because no one could leave their house," says Diallo.
The main problem that producers have encountered is that they do not have the necessary resources to be able to properly store food and keep it until they can transport it to sell it in large markets.
"Food losses that occur from post-harvest to the sale of fruits or vegetables can be up to 30% during covid-19 in Africa because there are not adequate refrigeration systems," says Máximo Torero, the director of Economics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Working with inadequate facilities, that there is not enough electrical current to keep food at a good temperature in warehouses and warehouses or that there are not even appropriate containers for its conservation suppose a huge amount of energy, resources, emissions, soil wear and tear and seas, fresh water waste, work and effort so that, in the end, the products do not fulfill their objective: to nourish people and be able to live on it.
Like Ousmane Diallo, millions of people have lost a large part of their productions due to covid-19.
This type of loss already accounted for 14% on a global scale, according to the latest report from the State of Food and Agriculture, and only in sub-Saharan Africa they amount to 4,000 million dollars annually so far this year.
Among the continents affected by this problem, after Central and South Asia, the regions of North America and Europe accumulate the most losses, with more than 15%, and Sub-Saharan Africa, with about 14%.
The area that generates the least loss is Australia and New Zealand, with about 6% in previous years.
The UN body in charge of agriculture and nutrition has warned about this problem on the occasion of the celebration, last Tuesday, of the first International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste.
Last Friday, the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize winner also set his sights on this issue.
For this reason, he awarded the prestigious award to the UN Food Program (WFP) for the enormous work of bringing food and assistance to more than 100 million hungry children, women and men around the world, a task that has meant in some cases even putting the workers themselves at risk.
“Agriculture is not easy;
it takes patience and courage, ”explains Diallo.
This value is well portrayed by Albert Zeufack, the World Bank's chief economist for the African regions, in the launch of the biannual macroeconomic analysis of the region.
"Efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus have halted or reversed economic gains, causing the region's first recession in 25 years, with no end in sight," says Zeufack.
Dozens of the largest farms in sub-Saharan Africa have been forced to destroy millions of euros of fresh food that they could no longer sell due to the closure of restaurants, hotels and schools, among others.
This situation is repeated in dozens of countries, and although the retail trade increases its sales due to the increase in people who cook at home, it is not enough to absorb the entire supply of products.
According to FAO data, this situation occurs at a time when consumers are only buying carbohydrate-containing foods and non-perishable products instead of short-lived supplies.
Dozens of farms have been forced to destroy millions of euros of fresh food by the closure of restaurants, hotels and schools
The physical distancing measures adopted in some countries, which caused a decrease in the number of customers in the markets, was another of the elements that served to increase food losses and a decrease in the income of traders.
“When food is lost or wasted, all the resources to produce it are also wasted: water, land and energy and labor,” explains Rosa Rolle, FAO's food loss and waste expert.
Malika Fedala, technical reference for Food Security and Livelihoods of Action Against Hunger, is concerned about the long-term consequences this could have on the most vulnerable population.
“The loss of purchasing power and the increase in prices affect the family economy.
Many families will implement negative strategies to cope with the crisis, such as a reduction in food consumption, which can lead to an increase in malnutrition in the most nutritionally vulnerable population, such as children under five years of age and women. pregnant or breastfeeding ”, explains Fedala.
The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a wake-up call about the need to radically transform our food systems to make them more efficient and sustainable for people and the planet.
“Addressing food loss and waste in Africa, and in particular reducing post-harvest losses, is essential to achieve that goal,” says Abebe Deputy General Manager Haile-Gabriel.
However, people around the world are still starving.
On the planet, a third of the food that is produced is wasted.
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