The COVID-19 pandemic is already affecting food systems directly through impacts on food supply and demand, and indirectly – but just as importantly – through decreases in purchasing power, the capacity to produce and distribute food, and the intensification of care tasks, all of which will have differentiated impacts and will more strongly affect the poor and vulnerable.

Potential risk for global food availability and food prices will depend on the duration of the outbreak and the severity of containment measures needed. Isolated country-level policies are likely to amplify the effects of the crisis on food security and nutrition at the global level, especially for low-income and food-insecure countries. Further, the potential impact of the pandemic on food production in major food producing and exporting countries (e.g. China, EU, USA) could have serious implications for global food availability and food prices.

However, as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, disruptions in domestic food supply chains and other shocks affecting food production, and loss of incomes and remittances are creating strong tensions and food security risks in many countries.

Labor shortages (due to morbidity, movement restrictions, social distancing rules) are starting to impact producers, processors, traders and trucking/logistics companies in food supply chains – particularly for food products that require workers to be in close proximity. Ensuring farmers have access to inputs and labor for the next planting season is another common area of concern across countries.

At the same time, loss of income and remittances is reducing people’s ability to buy food and compensate farmers for their production. Food producers also face large losses on perishable and nutritious food as buyers have become limited and traders stop engaging with farmers.

Food security “hot spots” include:

1. Fragile and conflict – affected states, where logistics and distribution are difficult even without morbidity and social distancing.
2. Countries affected by multiple crises resulting from more frequent extreme weather events and pests such as the current locusts plague – the worst in decades— impacting food production in 23 countries.
3. 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.
4. 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).

Food security could be in threat post corona as productivity is at a low during this pandemic and the masses have to be fed. As such Farmers and governments should strategize on how to post balance in food security. Such measures include continuous activities in farms by farmers and support by governments in terms of finances and tax relief on agricultural inputs as well as subsidising the inputs; among other ways.