Since late 2019 early 2020, an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus – has rapidly spread across the world, devastating lives and livelihoods. As of late March 2020, the full impact of the virus on food security and agricultural food systems is not yet known, nor will likely be known, for months to come as the spread of the virus continues to evolve differently by continent and by country. What is clear is that it will have, and is already having, significant negative effects on people along the food supply chain – from producers to processors, marketers, transporters and consumers. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is particularly concerned about the potential impacts of the virus and related containment efforts on food security and livelihoods in contexts of high vulnerability and where populations are already experiencing food crises.

The document presents FAO's component of the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Appeal, focusing on maintaining operations in food crisis contexts, anticipating the secondary impacts of the pandemic and related containment efforts on the world's most vulnerable people and sustaining critical food supply chains to avert future food crises.