Policy responses to keep input markets flowing in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a substantial risk to agricultural input supply chains. It can detrimentally affect access to and availability of inputs, including seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, as well as labour. As such, disruptions to the supply and demand of inputs will have diverse impacts across and within countries and will need to be reflected in different policy responses depending on the context. 

This brief presents the policy implications to be considered given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural input markets and it outlines policy recommendations to mitigate short- and long-run impacts.

Contact person: Cristian Morales, Senior Economist, Agricultural Development Economics Division and Jonathan Pound,Economist, Trade and Markets Division, FAO

Risks threatening international agrifood trade in Latin America and the Caribbean

This edition addresses the risks threatening international agrifood trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the previous issue we reviewed the lessons learned by those who have had to manage disasters. We presented a methodology for analysing and managing the crisis in food systems from a disaster risk reduction perspective.

For this new edition, we set out to identify the threats and risks affecting international agrifood trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. We know that, once we manage to identify the risks —threats and vulnerabilities— faced by the countries, it is easier for planners, and consequently for decision-makers, to design timely, effective, and efficient policies that benefit the most vulnerable populations.

The impacts of COVID-19 on the forest sector: How to respond?

This brief highlights some of the identified and perceived impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on development aspects interconnected with the forest sector, with a particular emphasis on the impacts on the production and trade of forest products. It proposes a series of recommendations as a basis for policy development in the aftermath of the crisis, and highlights potential opportunities to leverage the progress achieved so far, to ensure that decades of advances are not reversed.

Although the forest sector is traditionally seen as more resilient (harvesting cycles are longer than other commodities), the multi-faceted contribution of the sector to broader development targets bears testament to the central role forests will play in social and economic recovery in the aftermath of the crisis.

Contact Person: Mr Hiroto Mitsugi, Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department, FAO

Addressing inequality in times of COVID-19

The initial direct impact of COVID-19 is on health, in terms of morbidity and mortality, with quickly overburdened health care services. The containment measures taken to curb the impact of COVID-19 have indirectly been socially and economically devastating and will significantly set back efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda, including SDGs 1, 2 and 10 on poverty, food security and inequality. Inequality between countries and within countries is strongly conditioning the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and these inequalities will likely worsen due to COVID-19. However, rising inequality is not inevitable; national institutions, politics and policy can play key roles in both addressing existing inequalities and in reaching a more equitable response to the immediate and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This brief presents a series of general and policy recommendations to help prevent the rise of inequality during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It urges countries to prioritize the reduction of inequalities and to take a medium- and long-term approach in addressing existing inequalities in order to ensure that eventual economic recovery will reduce the poverty brought on by COVID-19.

Contact Person: Benjamin Davis, Strategic Programme Leader , Strategic Programme to reduce rural poverty (SP3), FAO

COVID-19 and the risk to food supply chains: How to respond?

As the COVID-19 pandemic turns into a global crisis, countries are taking measures to contain the pandemic. 

Supermarket shelves remain stocked for now. But a protracted pandemic crisis could quickly put a strain on the food supply chains, which is a complex web of interactions involving farmers, agricultural inputs, processing plants, shipping, retailers and more. The shipping industry is already reporting slowdowns because of port closures, and logistics hurdles could disrupt the supply chains in the coming weeks. 

This policy brief provides recommendations on measures to consider in order to keep the supply chain alive in these times of crisis.

Contact Person: Maximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist and Assistant Director-General Economic and Social Development Department, FAO