Policy briefs
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting not only food trade, food supply chains and markets but also people’s lives, livelihoods and nutrition.
This collection of policy briefs presents a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the pandemic’s impacts on these areas.
Briefs are released on a day-to-day basis. Please check back frequently for the latest available briefs.
For media queries on any of the below topics, please contact [email protected]
The gendered impacts of COVID-19 in Kenya, the Niger, Rwanda, and Uganda: Evidence from phone surveys
25/09/2023
The surveys traced gender differences in responses to the pandemic and associated restrictions, such as choice of coping strategies, access to public assistance, and changes in the care burden for men and women. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has had sweeping impacts on people living in rural areas of Kenya, Niger, Rwanda, and Uganda, including losses in income, depletion of savings and assets, and reduced access to food.
How is COVID-19 affecting the fisheries and aquaculture food systems
10/04/2020
The full range of activities required to deliver fish and fish products from production to the final consumer is subject to indirect impacts of the pandemic through new sanitary measures, changing consumer demands, market access or logistical problems related to transportation and border restrictions. This in turn has a damaging...
Analysis and responses of Latin America and the Caribbean to the effects of COVID-19 on food system
23/04/2020
This bulletin provides decision-makers in government, the private sector and civil society with useful information and resources to support the design and implementation of actions to combat the effects of the pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean. The resources and information contained in the bulletin are provided by FAO, as...
Increasing the resilience of the food system and agricultural livelihoods to COVID-19
29/04/2020
This topic addresses the resilience of agricultural livelihoods and the food system to COVID-19. Lessons learned by those who have had to manage disasters indicate that it is critical to understand, monitor, and anticipate the impacts of crises on agriculture and agricultural livelihoods early on. Timely and accurate monitoring enables...
Safeguarding input supply chains for small-scale agricultural producers in the context of COVID-19 in Africa
05/05/2020
The African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) indicates that 52 AU Member States had reported positive cases of COVID-19 as of 7 April 2020. Consequently, governments have rapidly put in place measures to control the spread of the pandemic. Some of these measures are not fully aligned...
Intra-African trade, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) and the COVID-19 pandemic
05/05/2020
Africa’s participation in the global market for agri-food products has steadily expanded in the last half century, with exports growing by 4 percent and imports by 6 percent per year. However, exports are comprised mainly of cash crops (cocoa, fruits and nuts, coffee, tea and spices), which have relatively limited markets...
Measures for supporting domestic markets during the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa
05/05/2020
As COVID-19 reaches a growing number of communities across Africa, governments’ efforts to contain the spread of the virus need to be accompanied by measures to minimize disruptions to the food system. To date, the emerging crisis is viewed primarily through a public health lens (as it should) and only...
Crop calendars and recommended actions during the COVID-19 outbreak in the Africa region
05/05/2020
Many countries in the region already resort to adopting standard sets of measures for natural disasters or economic downturns to minimize food insecurity challenges. These include food price monitoring, food stock inventory assessments, but in other cases price controls and building up of strategic food stocks. Efforts are being undertaken...
Social protection: ensuring effective response and inclusive recovery in the context of COVID-19 in Africa
05/05/2020
COVID-19 poses significant challenges to an already strained rural context in Africa. The growing direct impact of COVID-19 is affecting health, in terms of morbidity and mortality, as well as quickly overburdening health care services with negative repercussions for non-COVID related health problems, but even before COVID-19 had spread in...
COVID-19 and rural poverty
06/05/2020
While the immediate impact of COVID19 in most parts of the world has been primarily urban, the economic impact of COVID19 spread quickly to rural areas. In most cases, the contagion will eventually follow. Most of the world’s poor and food insecure live in rural areas, and although physical distance,...
Sustainable crop production and COVID-19
06/05/2020
Even before the pandemic struck, the ambitious path that was laid out by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was going to require a concerted effort to stay on track; COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the context in which Agenda 2030 was being pursued and we now risk a reversal of gains...
COVID-19 global economic recession: Avoiding hunger must be at the centre of the economic stimulus
06/05/2020
The scenario presented in this brief predicts that if the anticipated global recession, due to the effects of COVID-19, were to trigger a reduction in the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) of between two and ten percentage points in all countries in 2020, then the number of undernourished...
Mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on the livestock sector
06/05/2020
The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented emergency and grave societal threat. It is affecting key sectors that contribute to global food security, nutrition and livelihoods, including the livestock sector. This policy brief describes the observed and potential impacts of COVID-19 on the livestock sector, based on evidence from the ongoing...
Extension and advisory services: at the frontline of the response to COVID-19 to ensure food security
06/05/2020
Between present disruptions and future threats to the food supply chain, the COVID-19 outbreak has generated extreme vulnerability in the agriculture sector. It is therefore crucial to mobilize all available instruments, institutions and stakeholders from both public and private sectors and civil society to ensure appropriate and timely response. Agricultural Extension...
Integrated agriculture water management and health
06/05/2020
This policy brief reviews on going challenges and proposes recommendations on integrated water resources management approach that embraces the value of water in all its forms and recognizes the intrinsic role of water in protecting human, animal and ecosystem health. This multi-sectoral approach to integrated water resources management under the One...
COVID-19 and smallholder producers’ access to markets
06/05/2020
Smallholder producers’ access to markets is also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Immediate impacts tend to be more severe for high-value commodities (perishable products), which are often produced by smallholder farmers. Several countries are putting in place a variety of measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on smallholder...
Food Safety in the time of COVID-19
06/05/2020
Specific information about the virus responsible for COVID-19 is and remains scant; however, the behaviour and characteristics of the virus can be predicted based on data from similar viruses such as those responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Despite the hypothesis that the...
Urban food systems and COVID-19
06/05/2020
Cities, with their high population density, are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and many cities in developing countries do not have adequate capacity to address the disruptions caused by the response to the health emergency. The risk is particularly high for the 1.2 billion people living in the congested...
The coronavirus and the potential blackout of national statistics: Reorganizing national statistical systems in the context of COVID-19
06/05/2020
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, National Statistical Services at country level remain committed to providing their policymakers, their economy and society with the information they require. In many countries, mitigation and contingency plans are put in place, as the situation evolves. Nevertheless, as the situation continues to deteriorate in...
Legal considerations in the context of responses to COVID-19 to mitigate the risk of food insecurity
06/05/2020
In the wake of the global pandemic, COVID-19, Countries are taking measures to halt its spread. However, such measures can have unintended consequences for food security, namely availability, access, utilization and stability of food supplies at global, national, local levels. Therefore, countries need to know and take into account the...