Conclusion views on the pandemic covid 19 and food security and how people in communities experience food security issues
Answers
Answer:
Alarmed by a potential rise in food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and organizations are mounting special efforts to keep agriculture safely running as an essential business, markets well supplied in affordable and nutritious food, and consumers still able to access and purchase food despite movement restrictions and income losses.
This page summarizes the evolving agriculture and food situation and provides links to World Bank and other resources. Updates are frequently posted on this page.
Overview
Global agricultural markets continue to remain stable as food trade has remained more resilient than overall trade. Global production levels for the three most widely consumed staples (rice, wheat and maize) are at or near all-time highs. However, the prices of certain cash crops -- an important source of rural income -- have been depressed by the slowing of global demand.
Given the status of global food supplies, export restrictions are unwarranted and could hurt food security in importing countries. The World Bank has joined other organizations in calling for collective action to keep food trade flowing between countries.
The primary risks to food security are at the country level: as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, disruptions in domestic food supply chains, other shocks affecting food production, and loss of incomes and remittances are creating strong tensions and food security risks in many countries. Despite stable global food prices, numerous countries are experiencing varying levels of food price inflation due to measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Food producers also face large losses on perishable and nutritious food as buyers have become limited and consumption patterns shift. Though food insecurity is by and large not driven by food shortages, disruptions to the supply of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seeds or labor shortages could diminish next season’s crop. If farmers are experiencing acute hunger, they may also prioritize buying food today over planting seeds for tomorrow, raising the threat of food shortages later on.
Food security “hot spots” include:
fragile and conflict-affected states, where logistics and distribution are difficult even without morbidity and social distancing.
countries affected by multiple crises resulting from more frequent extreme weather events (floods, droughts) and pests such as the current locusts plague – the worst in decades— impacting food production in 23 countries.
the poor and vulnerable, including the more than 820 million people who were already chronically food insecure before the COVID-19 crisis impacted movement and incomes.
countries with significant currency depreciation, (driving up the cost of food imports) and countries seeing other commodity prices collapse (reducing their capacity to import food).
World Bank support
At the country level, the World Bank Group is working with governments and international partners to closely monitor domestic food and agricultural supply chains, track how the loss of employment and income is impacting people’s ability to buy food and ensure that food systems continue to function despite COVID-19 challenges.
We’re building on existing projects and deploying short and long-term financing. Examples:
In Afghanistan, measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have disrupted farming, leaving Afghan farmers unable to sow their crops on time, while in urban areas food prices are rising with shortages of food supply becoming more urgent. A $100 million grant to fund the Emergency Agriculture and Food Supply Project (EATS) aims to improve food security by increasing local food production and strengthening critical commercial food supply chains and provide short-term employment in rural areas in the development of productive assets.
In Angola, the World Bank-financed Commercial Agriculture Development Project is helping farmer cooperatives and small and mid-sized agricultural enterprises expand and improve their operations to meet the needs of local communities during the pandemic.
In Bangladesh, a $96 million Emergency Action Plan, mobilized as part of a Livestock Dairy Development project will include cash transfers to vulnerable dairy and poultry farmers for business continuation.
In Bhutan, the World Bank has re-aligned its portfolio to support food distribution in the short term and enhance food production in the medium term through inputs supply and irrigation.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we’re supporting the government, in conjunction with the World Food Programme, to improve the frequency and quality of food price and stock data, in particular around main urban consumption centers affected by COVID-19, to help plan for appropriate social protection, food and nutrition interventions and emergency response to food price hikes.