The Director of the World Food Program (WFP) said that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in the global food supply system, making leaders more aware that not controlling the virus could mean famine and mass migration.
David Beasley, executive director of the WFP, told an online meeting during the World Economic Forum that the crisis was disrupting supply chains around the world, pushing 270 million people to the brink of famine, especially in sub-Sahara countries.
He added, "If we do not receive the support and funding we need, we will have mass starvation and destabilization of countries, and you will have a mass migration, and the cost of that will be a thousand times more," adding that there will be more events like COVID-19.
Beasley said upon assuming his position at the WFP four years ago that there were 80 million people on the verge of starvation, but that number increased even before the pandemic to 135 million due to challenges such as war and climate change.
"Literally, we had hundreds of millions on the brink of starvation and the media didn't care about that, but now people are starting to wake up and act."
He added that the food supply chain has not been broken, with less than 10 percent of the world's population living in extreme poverty compared to 95 percent two hundred years ago, but the situation needs to improve.
"If you imagine that you have had trouble getting toilet paper in New York due to supply chain disruptions, let alone what is happening in Chad or Niger or Mali, or places like that," he said.
Beasley explained that the World Food Program, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, is not only providing food but also seeking to create more opportunities for smallholder farmers in developing countries.
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