Now that Idris Elba and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, are on the mend from COVID-19, they’re doing their part to help farmers around the world. They launched a coronavirus relief fund on behalf of the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development – or IFAD – that’s designed to lessen economic shocks caused by the current crisis.
The fund is starting with $40 million dollars in seed money from IFAD. They hope to raise another $200-million from governments, foundations, and the private sector to ease the impact of COVID-19 on rural farmers and producers in the poorer parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The ultimate goal is to allow them to grow their crops, keep their businesses open, and maintain access to financial services and markets as their countries deal with lockdowns and movements are restricted.
The UN ambassador – whose parents are from Sierra Leone and Ghana – said, “It is about food. It’s about the basic necessity for human beings, and that will run out if the farmers can’t farm.” He added, “What we’ve learnt from COVID is that no man is an island. We’re all part of this world, so if we can help each other [with] forward-thinking – that’s going to save a lot of lives and some livelihoods.”
