Coronavirus Pandemic Could Threaten Global Food Supply, UN Warns

As the novel coronavirus pandemic slows down businesses worldwide and throws nations into lockdown, disruption threatens to sever production chains and raise food insecurity.

"Supermarket shelves are now in stock for now," said the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in a report released late last month. "Yet a protracted pandemic outbreak might rapidly place a strain on food supply chains, a dynamic network of interactions involving producers, agricultural resources, processing plants, shipping, retailers and more.

The issue, though, is not the shortage of food — at least not yet. Actually, it is the world's dramatic steps in response to the virus.

Export controls, travel limits and delays in the transportation and aviation sectors also rendered it more challenging to continue processing food and exporting products abroad – placing countries with limited available food supplies at high risk.

Thousands of airlines and ports have been grounded — floating containers of fruit, medication, and other goods on tarmacs and storage fields said the UN Trade and Development Conference on 25 March.

Growing uncertainty in global food supplies would have the biggest effect on the poorest people, the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) cautioned in a paper last month.

Even private companies and organizations have called for immediate action to address the looming food catastrophe.

"Governments, businesses, civil society, and international agencies need to take urgent, coordinated action to prevent the COVID pandemic turning into global food and humanitarian crisis," said an open letter to world leaders from scientists, politicians, and companies like Nestle and Unilever.

Source: CNN