COVID-19: Actors Idris and Sabrina Elba move to save rural farmers
Admin l Monday, April 20, 2020
NEW YORK, United States – British actors, Idris Elba and wife Sabrina Elba today launched UN’s International Fund for Agriculture Development(IFAD) as part of efforts to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural farmers in developing countries.
The fund is a Rural Poor Stimulus Facility to help producers to continue to grow their crops, keep their businesses open and maintain access to financial services and markets amid the pandemic.
The Rural Poor Stimulus Facility provided $40 million in seed money for the farmers with the goal of raising an additional $200 million for the rural farmers.
IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo called for action to prevent the health crisis from transforming into a major food and hunger crisis.
“COVID-19 confirms what we know from Ebola, SARS and other crises: that our world is one world, and that the impact of disease, climate change, poverty, hunger and inequality cannot be contained within a country or region. The ripple effects touch us all – but have an especially devastating impact on those already poor and hungry,” he said.
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“We need to invest in them and keeping food systems running through this pandemic, so that the world’s most vulnerable people can still feed their families and earn an income”, he said.
Idris Elba and Sabrina Elba who were on Monday designated UN Goodwill Ambassadors for IFAD, visited agency-supported projects in Sierra Leone in December, where they met farmers and others who had received assistance during the West Africa Ebola epidemic in 2014-16. Speaking about their trip, Sabrina Dhowre Elba said the projects showed that with the right support, vulnerable rural people worldwide will be able to get through this difficult time.
“This crisis has shown us we are only as safe as our most vulnerable people. It is in all our interests to keep local food systems going, protect rural communities and mitigate a health crisis as people who lose their jobs in the city head back to rural areas,” she said.
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Idris Elba underscored that the impacts of the pandemic affect everyone, everywhere.
“The world’s advanced economies are in the midst of this pandemic right now and, of course, they must do everything they can to help their own people. Every death is one death too many at a time like this. But the fact is, global action is also a matter of self-interest,” he said.
