Pandemic to deepen food insecurity beyond 2020
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Subject
Global hunger crisis.
Significance
UN agencies have warned of increasing global hunger due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Some 135 million people faced ‘crisis’ levels of hunger in 2019, of which the majority were located in just two regions: 73 million in Africa and 43 million in the Middle East, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). The 2019 figure, already a four-year high, could nearly double to 265 million by end-2020.
Impacts
- Disruptions to agricultural input supply will negatively affect future planting seasons.
- Establishing national strategic food reserves will become more attractive, although these distort food markets.
- Automated food handling and fruit-picking will become more popular but technological challenges persist.
- Movement restrictions, especially at ports and transport hubs, will disrupt food trade throughout 2020 and possibly beyond.