Webinar: City Region Food Systems - The role of local food production to increase resilience to COVID-19
30/06/2020
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, global food systems are facing disruptions from multiple aspects along the entire agri-food value chain. This pandemic has exposed the bottlenecks in food systems in countries and especially in urban areas where 70% of all food produced is consumed, processed or further distributed. Local governments are scrambling to take action, and while some are struggling, others have come up with innovative ideas and approaches in response to current seismic changes in food systems due to COVID-19.
Adopting a city region food system (CRFS) approach can help organize food systems in a more effective and sustainable manner to meet producer and consumer demands, by promoting local food production (especially family farmers & smallholders) and shorter supply chains, strengthening urban-rural linkages, and maintaining (or creating) diversity in the food supply chain and channels of distribution (from farm to fork).
The webinar provides an opportunity to discuss the work of FAO and partners in the CRFS programme and the current responses that some cities are formulating to increase resilience in their local food system.
Speakers:
- Fenton Beed - Team leader, Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO
- Rene van Veenhuizen - Senior Programme Officer, RUAF - City Region Food Systems to cope with COVID-19 and other shocks
- Carmen Zuleta - CRFS Project Coordinator, FAO Madagascar - Governance in Antananarivo city region food systems to reinforce local food production and supply
- Alexandra Rodriguez - Head of AGRUPAR Programme, CONQUITO Quito, Ecuador - How Quito's urban and peri-urban agriculture contributes to the COVID-19 response
Moderator: Guido Santini, CRFS programme coordinator, FAO
Materials from the webinar are available here: