In a remarkably short period of time, COVID-19 has reached every part of the world, causing a global pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis will have long-term effects on food security and nutrition through multiple disruptions in food systems that affect food production, health of farmers, access to agricultural inputs, access to markets, rural jobs and livelihoods, and a decrease in both rural and urban demand of food due to loss of jobs and incomes, among others. Farmers are already reporting a stark increase in food losses as a result of reduced demand and marketing disruptions. Family farmers will be particularly affected through disruptions in government public procurement and school feeding programmes in addition to other food system disruptions. People’s access to diverse and nutritional diets will also be affected around the globe, but especially in countries with high levels of food insecurity.

People continue to struggle to contain the effects of the pandemic, which poses major threats to lives as well as livelihoods. The crisis has demonstrated the urgency and the need for coordinated collective action at the global level to avoid precipitous acts that can add the compounding effects of food crisis to those of pandemic and recession. New thinking is needed to enhance our ability to survive a prolonged cycle of pandemic outbreak and economic shock.