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










FAO. 2020. COVID-19 and the risk to food supply chains: How to respond? Rome. 




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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Responding to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on food value chains through efficient logistics 2020
    Measures implemented around the world to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have entailed a severe reduction not only in the transportation of goods and services that rely on transport, but also in the migration of labour domestically and internationally. Workers are less available reflecting both disruptions in transportation systems and restrictions to stop the transmission of the disease, within and across borders. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) urges countries to maintain functioning food value chains to avoid food shortages, following practices that are being proven to work. This note summarizes some practices that could be useful for governments and the private sector to maintain critical logistical elements in food value chain.
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    FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme - Trade and food safety standards
    Facilitating and accelerating food and agricultural trade during COVID-19 and beyond
    2020
    The COVID-19 pandemic will have an unprecedented impact on global and regional trade. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), world merchandise trade in 2020 could fall by as much as 32 percent. The current situation is unlike any other food or health crisis in modern times, with simultaneous supply and demand shocks that are global in nature. Labour shortages due to curtailed mobility are affecting all aspects of the food and agriculture supply chains, from production, to processing and retailing, leading to both immediate and longer-term risks for food production and availability. At the same time, the significant scale of the economic recession, amid widespread job losses and reductions in income and remittances is raising serious concerns about hunger and malnutrition. The most vulnerable groups are already poor and food insecure, particularly in countries affected by multiple crises (extreme weather variability, the locust plague and plant and animal disease), which are seeing significant currency depreciation (notably commodity-dependent economies), and those affected by conflict, where supply chain distribution and logistics links are already fragile. All this has prompted many countries to take various measures to protect their populations from the crisis. Addressing policy barriers and physical constraints will also be crucial for importing countries, especially net food-importing developing countries, small island developing states and landlocked developing countries, to address domestic supply disruptions, improve food availability and stabilize local prices. Countries may also lack the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks to promote social inclusion and ensure that the benefits of trade reach all.
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    Social protection: effective and inclusive response and recovery in the context of COVID-19 in Africa 2020
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    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 Africa, the socio economic impact was felt. The sharp decline in demand and production from the most economically developed countries where contagion had initially hit hardest – China, European Union and the United States of America – has caused a global recession, with direct repercussions in Africa. With the spread of the virus across the continent, containment measures including social distancing, closing of schools, the prohibition of gatherings, closure or limitations on non-essential businesses and economic activities, and border closures may have devastating consequences. These impacts further exacerbate a situation of increasing rates of hunger and poverty, as well as challenges affecting rural areas, including the desert locust outbreak, fall army warm impacts, early droughts, conflict and insecurity. The disruption of traditional transhumance patterns and the creation of new ones may lead to tensions and local displacement, and increased levels of poverty and food insecurity. Despite these challenges, the region has also made important progress in terms of prioritizing social protection as a core component of poverty reduction and rural development strategies, including in the context of the Malabo Declaration and Agenda 2063. This is a critical moment to scale up these efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and support longer-term recovery for vulnerable populations.

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