Comments: How to address the impact of COVID-19 on global food systems

According to the Brookings Institute, COVID-19 could result in a loss of $ 2.4 trillion to more than $ 9 trillion in gross domestic product this year alone. And according to the World Bank, agriculture accounted for a third of the world's total crop as of 2014, while the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 60% of the world's population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods.

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Although the global scope of COVID-19 poses unique challenges, we can learn valuable lessons from past eruptions - Ebola virus disease, Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, and acute respiratory symptoms - and their impact on agriculture and food systems.

Ebola and related control measures caused significant disruption to agriculture and markets in areas affected by the disease, and elsewhere. In fact, Ebola caused approximately $ 2.2 billion in lost GDP in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in 2015. In Liberia, cultivated area has decreased along with rural incomes. Accountants could not buy at the farm gate, markets were closed, and supply chains were blocked due to garage, sick truck drivers, border closures, and trade barriers. In addition, reduced revenues of small farmers' ability to hire farm workers, which was severely restricted because collective work was banned in the field.

This had a significant impact on food security. In Liberia, rice prices increased by more than 30%, while cassava prices rose 150%. As a result of COVID-19, food prices in China have risen 20%, trade restrictions have been imposed by countries that include major wheat and rice exporters - Kazakhstan and Vietnam - and migration of agricultural workers has suffered. Trade barriers can affect global food prices, affecting poor consumers, while labor shortages can reduce overall production and food security.

The government and the international development community must urgently support efforts to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on food and agriculture and, most importantly, protect the food security of vulnerable people. Estimates of the International Food Research Institute show that even under the favorable conditions of COVID-19 planning, 14 to 22 million people may fall into extreme poverty and low- and middle-income countries may see a 25% reduction in shipping of agricultural food. . While it will take some time to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on food systems and agriculture, here are a few steps that the development community can begin to take now: