A Struggle for Food Access: Nationalism During A Pandemic and A Food Crisis

By: Cassandra van Drunen

Mother Teresa once said, “When a poor person dies of hunger it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed”. While the nationalist mentality has grown over the last few years, funding to global food security efforts has dropped, including President Donald’s Trump formal notice of withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), stating prior that “[W]e (the USA) have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible”. While lack of funding is one major factor in the world’s food crisis, the coronavirus pandemic has also severely hindered the transport of food between nations. Not only food transportation but, with more citizens economically struggling, the World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that the number of people who experience ‘crisislevel’ hunger will rise by 82% from 2019, which is the equivalent of 270 million people. The most sickening statistic to result from this pandemic is that 10,000 more children have died since this virus started from hunger every month since the pandemic started. In this article, the International Monetary Fund and the current struggle in specific areas of Africa will be reviewed and I will argue that a global approach would solve the desire of the nationalist approach: benefitting one’s nation.

Solving the food crisis would require an estimated 7 to 265 billion dollars per year and because of COVID-19, the cost will be on the higher end. While some countries have kept their funding into public health initiatives, others have been withholding from their global citizens. Most recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - A United Nations specialized agency - has put forth a plan to form a multi-trillion dollar relief package from the fund to support global hunger. These funds will not be loans and will not need to be repaid. To the general public, this sounds like an amazing solution, begging the question “why hasn’t this already happened?”.

The answer to this is that the United States has not yet agreed. Almost all 189 member countries - including Canada - have agreed to the aid that the US Congress is still considering. The fund has not been approved because the US Treasury has sole veto power at the IMF.

From an economics standpoint, many are unsure as to why this fund has yet to be approved, as funding this relief would benefit the US citizen immensely by providing jobs in exports, which have fallen by 64% in the second quarter. These facts beg an additional question: “If you could help save millions of lives, would you?”

Not only is money a huge factor in world hunger during this pandemic, but the global food trade has also severely impacted the millions of people struggling to be fed. This has been most prevalent in Africa, where many borders have been closed and have rendered freight lines unable to move food, causing it to rot. These shortages have caused food prices to rise. Certain countries in Africa have placed a higher concern on having COVID-19 enter their borders than feeding their citizens.

A local, Samuel Omondi, illustrates his experience hauling wheat in his truck from Kenya to Uganda: “You know you are going to spend three days in the truck without taking a bath”. This trip used to require 4 days back and forth. Since the pandemic hit, the same journey takes him 8 to 10 days. Every driver must submit a test that they tested negative for COVID-19 at the border, requiring they wait in their trucks for up to 4 days for test results. African countries fear coronavirus more than being able to provide affordable food to their people. Rwanda has even refused Tanzanian truck drivers to haul goods into the country as African countries continue to pass the blame onto each other as to who is responsible for spreading the disease. While COVID-19 safety is important, a balance between self-preservation, public health, and starving citizens needs to be established.

The COVID-19 lockdown has proved itself to be a double-edged sword: a pandemic of a virus and a pandemic of hunger. To lessen the impact of this ‘pandemic of hunger’, countries need to work together, in terms of funds, trust, and public health. COVID-19 is continuing to show us that sometimes, globalization can also benefit your own nation.