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The FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean and FLAMA will establish a joint strategy to monitor and advertise the activities of regional wholesale markets and supply centres during this period of crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this newsletter is to periodically share the main prevention strategies adopted by the wholesale markets and report on their activities and operating conditions to guarantee the food supply since they continue to fulfill their strategic and critical role in the food supply of cities. By delivering objective information and electronic links, we hope that this document can contribute [...]

This bulletin provides decision-makers in governments, the private sector and civil society with useful information and resources to support the design and implementation of actions against the effects of the pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean. The resources and information contained in the bulletin come from FAO, as well as from governments and other institutions that are contributing to the common goal of containing the effects of the pandemic. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is a valuable partner in this bulletin, and we hope that other multilateral organizations will join us in future editions. Also [...]

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, EU and the USA—has caused a global recession, with direct repercussions in Africa. With the spread of the virus in the continent, containment measures, [...]

According to the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS), cereal production in 2019 and the estimated closing stock in 2019/20 are both near record highs and supplies in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and around the world are estimated to be sufficient. As a result, global cereal markets are expected to remain balanced and comfortable despite worries over the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, localized disruptions, largely due to logistical issues, have caused some snarls in food distribution systems and food supply chains in some domestic markets. Though the anticipated duration and magnitude of these disruptions are unlikely [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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, relative isolation, lower population density and their own production of food play in favour for rural areas, they are particularly vulnerable to suffering severe impact from the pandemic and the ensuing economic contraction. Rural areas, particularly in the developing world, are much less prepared to deal with the direct and [...]

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 made in the last few years. The poorest and most vulnerable groups will experience the most negative effects of the current pandemic. This demographic includes subsistence farmers as well as smallholder farmers’ enterprises. This policy brief is intended for decision-makers in developing Member Countries where food security and nutrition are [...]

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast in January that the global economy would grow by 3.3 percent in 2020, however its latest outlook, in April, now forecasts a contraction of 3.0 percent, with no upside scenarios and numerous risks. 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 people in net food-importing countries would increase by 14.4 million to 80.3 [...]

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 crisis and past epidemics. It highlights key impacts on animal production, processing, transport, sales and consumption as well as on the poorest and most vulnerable. Finally, the brief provides examples of country responses as well as policy options for consideration by national policy makers to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 [...]