FOOD SOURCES in the time of PANDEMIC

BEATING THE FOOD SCARCITY IN THE  COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since early March, the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted unprecedented controls on travel and social distancing, with adverse economic consequences still ongoing. Public health emergency measures have disrupted both supply and demand sides of agri-food systems worldwide.

         The COVID-19 pandemic had struck at a time when the agrifood system was facing a healthy outlook, implying that the recurrence of a world food crisis is unlikely. Besides the terrible health situation, people have lost their jobs and cannot go out to find work. Because of lockdowns and the closing down of transport systems, people are forced to stay in their houses and cannot go out to earn. Maybe middle-class families can manage under these restrictions, but the urban poor who live day-to-day are suffering – especially when it comes to food. With no income, families can't put food on the table and there is a lot of hunger.  

Other Filipinos have taken food production into their own hands: Urban gardening has begun to flourish in Manila, and community food-sharing projects started early in the pandemic kept some poor from starving as they waited for government help.

   

        In the space of a few weeks, life around the globe has been upended in the wake of COVID-19. Industries of all kinds have been forced to rapidly change how they work, and agriculture is no different.

It is impossible to predict what the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic will be. What we do know is that a more resilient food system is needed to improve agricultural sustainability and help supply chains withstand and respond to future crises. The good news is that agriculture is an industry used to rising to the challenge.