Africa’s food banks under huge pressure

Food banks across Africa have told The Independent that cuts to foreign aid – primarily those by Donald Trump in the US, but including the UK – are helping to significantly drive up the number of people needing their help. Food Forward South Africa said that demand for its food services has soared since the start of the year and was expected to increase further still as grants from USAID run out in the coming months, while Food Banking Kenya has revealed that demand was up 300% this year, far outstripping what they are able to provide. In Nigeria, the Lagos Food Bank is another that is expecting shortages thanks to US aid cuts. ‘The numbers we are seeing this year are absolutely huge. We thought numbers were big in other years, but this is completely unimaginable,’ said John Gathungu, CEO of Food Banking Kenya. Food Banking Kenya also partners with the Kenyan Red Cross, another organisation impacted by aid cuts, which runs health and ambulance services around the country. Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria all took massive hits when USAID terminated more than 80% of its contracts in May, worth an estimated $260m, $224m and $178m, respectively. But it is not just decisions from Washington that are hitting government budgets in sub-Saharan Africa: next year is set to mark the third consecutive year of decline in G7 aid spending, according to Oxfam, with the US (down $33bn), the UK (down $5bn), Germany (down $3.5bn) and France (down $3bn) all significantly cutting overseas aid year-on-year. Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria have all seen their public services and social security provision deteriorate as a result, with HIV services in South Africa and food aid in Nigeria particularly devastated.