Food prices are rising and supplies are short in the three west African nations affected by the outbreak of the Ebola virus and the harvest season is imperiled by labor shortages due to restrictions on travel, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a special alert. FAO reported “panic buying, food shortages and significant food price hikes on some commodities, especially in urban centers.” With harvest-time near for rice and corn, travel restriction “will seriously impact farm production,” said the alert.
The most productive areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia are among the regions most affected by Ebola. Besides the threat to the domestic harvest, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea also are net importers of cereal grains, so closure of some border crossings also inhibits food shipments. The UN World Food Program has launched an emergency supply of 65,000 tonnes of food to 1.3 million people in the affected countries.