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The COVID-19 pandemic is a major economic and labour market shock, presenting significant impacts in terms of unemployment and underemployment for informal workers. In rural areas, the livelihoods of especially the self-employed and wage workers are at risk, because agri-food supply chains and markets are being disrupted due to lockdowns and restrictions of movement. Families might resort to negative coping strategies such as distress sale of assets, taking out loans from informal moneylenders, or child labour. Specific groups of workers, including women, youth, children, indigenous people, and migrant workers, who are overrepresented in the informal economy, will experience further exacerbation [...]

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.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is devastating lives, public health systems, livelihoods and economies all over the world, populations living in food crisis contexts are particularly exposed to its effects. Countries with existing humanitarian crises are particularly exposed to the effects of the pandemic, which is already directly affecting food systems through impacts on food supply and demand, and indirectly through decreases in purchasing power, the capacity to produce and distribute food, and the intensification of care tasks, all of which will have differentiated impacts and will more strongly affect the most vulnerable populations. The effects could be even stronger in countries [...]

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 [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing many changes in the daily lives of people around the world, but there are things that can be done to maintain a healthy lifestyle in these difficult times. Everyone is encouraged to follow World Health Organization (WHO) guidance and governmental advice to protect against COVID-19 infection and transmission. Social distancing and good hygiene are the best protection for yourself and others against COVID-19. Good nutrition is very important before during and after an infection. While no foods or dietary supplements can prevent COVID-19 infection, maintaining a healthy diet is an important part of supporting a strong [...]

Global cereal markets are expected to remain balanced and comfortable despite worries over the impacts of COVID-19. While localized disruptions, largely due to logistical issues, pose challenges to food supply chains in some markets, their anticipated duration and magnitude are unlikely to have a significant effect on global food markets.  

The policy brief highlights that policy measures should aim to address actual rather than perceived demand and supply disruptions, and that enhanced market transparency, and coordination with trading partners is critical in this regard. It is noted that experiences from past crises have demonstrated that avoiding certain trade-restrictive measures can be equally important to more direct forms of supporting consumers and producers. In this context, following international guidelines on safe travel and trade corridors can help keep agri-food supply chains functional, mitigate food supply disruptions, and promote food security.  

La  Oficina  Regional  de  la  FAO  para  América Latina y el Caribe y la FLAMA establecerán una estrategia conjunta para monitorear y publicitarlas  actividades  de  los  mercados  mayoristas  y Centros  de  Abastos  de  la  Región  en  esteperíodo  de  crisis  debido  a  la  pandemia  de COVID-19. El  presente  boletín  tiene  como  objetivo compartir   periódicamente   las   principales estrategias  de  prevención  de  la  contaminación adoptadas  por  los  Mercados  Mayoristas  e informar sobre sus actividades y las condiciones operativas  de  los  Mercados  para  garantizar  el suministro   de   alimentos,   que   continúan cumpliendo  su  papel  estratégico  y  fundamentalen  el  suministro  de  alimentos  de  las  ciudades. Con  informaciones  [...]

This joint note from FAO and WFP intends to provide government decision makers, school administrators/staff and partners with preliminary guidance on how to support, transform or adapt school feeding (in the short term) to help safeguard schoolchildren’s food security and nutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specific recommendations are provided according to the various target groups involved in school feeding. An additional section is focused on the case of homegrown school feeding. This guidance note will be regularly updated as the situation evolves, and new information becomes available. It complements other guidance from specialized UN agencies, such as the, UNESCO, UNICEF, [...]

This paper aims to identify the channels of transmissions of the COVID-19 pandemic into the food and agriculture sectors and, based on this, to delineate the degrees of exposure to the COVID-19 shock by geographic region. Primary production, trade and final consumption are analysed in detail and, where possible, quantified. Based on results of the analysis, a country taxonomy of the exposure is developed and presented.