In the Middle of It

The war in Ukraine, while centered in Europe, has far-reaching effects in countries around the world, and Chad is not an exception to this. As some of the biggest producers and exporters of grain in the world, Russia and Ukraine’s war means that the countries that rely on these exports, like Chad, are left in a food crisis. In June 2022, the Republic of Chad officially declared a food emergency due to a lack of grain supplies from the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War. Chad also imports fertilizer from Russia, which means that their own agriculture has experienced a slow-down.

In April 2022, the President of the African Development Bank said the bank would pledge $1.5B to help the food crisis in Africa. The Head and the Chairman of the African Union each pledged $3M. UN aid is ongoing, but according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, only 21% of the $2.57B needed for humanitarian aid in the Lake Chad Basin has been obtained. Help is ongoing, but even efforts attempting to address short-term effects are falling short, and the larger issue of stabilizing Chad’s chronic food instability remains unsolved. 

Chad’s current position has been made especially precarious these last few years. In 2020 and 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic sent the entire world into economic and social strife. Chad saw significant impact on various facets of life, including a deterioration of agricultural harvest, which by itself, was expected to have significant influence on the country’s malnutrition levels, especially on children, measuring an expected increase of 2 million children affected. On another hand, climate change has shortened the rainy season, making agriculture more difficult, while simultaneously raising the frequency of extreme weather, as droughts and floods become more commonplace. A recent flood in August has affected 11 of 23 provinces, totaling around 340,000 people. The damage to homes, agriculture, and livestock, is great, and further escalates the food crisis.

To conclude, the culmination of Covid-19 effects, climate change, and the Russo-Ukraine war has put Chad in an extremely worrying food emergency that, thus far, remains unsolved.