GFN food banks served ​40 million people amid 2020 COVID-19 crisis

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 -- The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) has announced that food banks in 44 countries served 40 million people in 2020, a 132 per cent increase over service in 2019.

The data is part of GFN’s annual Network survey, which this year includes information about how GFN-supported food banks worldwide responded to COVID-19, according to a statement.

As food requests rose from cut-off or quarantined communities, food banks rapidly deployed their transport, inventory, and logistics infrastructures to assist people isolated due to closed schools and public support agencies or overwhelmed health systems.

“Food banks have served as a lifeline for millions of people during the health crisis,” said The Global FoodBanking Network president and chief executive officer, Lisa Moon.

“When the pandemic rattled economies and prevented access to food, food banks responded where existing infrastructure failed. They proved agile and resourceful, providing emergency relief and hope to their communities.”

African food banks, which served 169 per cent more people than the year before, reported the highest increase in people served globally, followed by food banks in Latin America, which served 157 per cent more people than in 2019.

Many food banks embraced mass distribution through congregate feeding sites and meal kit deliveries as they sought to reach the most people possible. More than half of the people served by GFN partner food banks in 2020 were women and girls.

As COVID-19 disrupted the global food supply chain, food banks saw a shift in the sources of donated products.

According to the survey, food banks experienced a tremendous drop in donations from food services, restaurants, hotels, grocers, and markets. At the same time, food donations from the agricultural sector nearly doubled in 2020, partly because farms did not have the informal labour force needed for harvest.

The Global FoodBanking Network supports community-driven solutions to alleviate hunger in more than 40 countries.

-- BERNAMA