MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-07-14 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] COVID-19 and food shortages
|
http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-and-covid-19
worldbank.org
Food Security and COVID-19
11-13 minutes
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. The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that an
estimated 265 million people could face acute food insecurity by the end
of 2020, up from 135 million people before the crisis, because of income
and remittance losses.
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 seasons 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 peoples ability to buy food and ensure that food systems
continue to function despite COVID-19 challenges.
Were building on existing projects and deploying short and long-term
financing. Examples:
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, were 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.
In Haiti, the Resilient Productive Landscape project is mobilizing
emergency funding to benefit 21,500 family farmers to safeguard
production for the next two cropping seasons, given that a reduction in
remittances (estimated at 35% of GDP, prior to COVID-19) will affect the
capacities of farmers to finance production costs. The financing will
cover: (i) seeds, fertilizers, support to land preparation through
plowing; (ii) small works respecting social distancing, including
rehabilitation and cleaning of irrigation schemes; and (iii)
communications campaigns to promote social distancing and personal
sanitation and the application of mitigation measures against the
pandemic to properly implement field activities. Implementation
arrangements include the use of vouchers or cheques -- a mechanism that
was used successfully following Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
In India, women's self-help groups, supported under the National
Rural Livelihoods Mission co-financed by the World Bank, mobilized to
meet shortages in masks and sanitizers, run community kitchens and
restore fresh food supplies, provide food and support to vulnerable and
high-risk families, provide financial services in rural areas, and
disseminate COVID-19 advisories among rural communities. These self-help
groups, built over a period of 15 years, tap the skills of about 62
million women across India.
In Kenya, were looking at leveraging digital technologies through
ongoing partnerships with 15 AgTech startups to transform the delivery
of inputs, soil testing, crop insurance, credit, extension advice and
market linkages, to enable farmers to overcome temporary COVID-related
constraints and ensure better targeting and more effective service
delivery especially in remote areas in the long run.
In the Kyrgyz Republic, the World Bank supported, GAFSP-funded
Agricultural Productivity and Nutrition Improvement Project, which
focuses primarily on improving water infrastructure and developing the
capacity of water users associations (WUAs), will begin distributing
agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizer through 30 project WUAs
to address vulnerable populations.
In Liberia, were working with the government to ensure food supply
chains are sustained. Although disruptions in the food supply chain are
still minimal, logistical challenges are emerging. The Bank is
responding by fast tracking certain activities and activating a
Contingency Emergency Response Component (about $7.5 million) through
Smallholder Agriculture Transformation and Agribusiness Revitalization
Project (STAR-P) so the government can meet immediate food needs of
vulnerable people, keep domestic supply chains moving, and support
smallholder farmers to increase food production.
In Pakistan, more than 18,000 mainly female-headed households will
receive direct livelihood support through World Bank-financed projects
to develop kitchen gardens, small scale livestock and agricultural
activities.
In Rwanda, the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Food
Security Project will provide support to help maintain current levels of
exports and to support cooperatives of horticulture growers to meet
increased airfreight and other logistics costs due to COVID-19
lockdowns.
In Senegal, a $150 million IDA credit will help increase exports of
high-value crops such as shelled groundnuts and horticultural products,
increase dairy farming productivity, and reduce the mortality rate of
small ruminants, mitigating the negative impacts of the pandemic while
investing in more productive and resilient practices.
In Sierra Leone, emergency financing under the ongoing Smallholder
Commercialization and Agribusiness Development Project will support
government COVID-19 response initiatives with inputs, land mechanization
services, as well as extension services to support rice farmers. The
World Bank-financed Social Safety Net Project is also scaling up its
cash transfer system to provide support to the most vulnerable
households.
In Tajikistan, the existing Targeted Social Assistance system will
provide time-bound cash transfers to food-insecure households with
children under the age of 2 to mitigate the effects of increases in food
prices and to protect childrens nutrition.
Were working with countries to help them adopt appropriate food policy
responses. These include:
treating food as an essential service to keep food moving and
opening special procedures (green channels) for food, trade and
agricultural inputs to ensure supply chains are kept open and
functional.
incorporating necessary health and safety measures along segments of
the food supply chain.
supporting the most vulnerable populations via safety net programs,
complemented by food distributions in areas where supply chains are
severely disrupted.
Locusts
Were also working with partners in the United Nations and national
governments to deliver immediate and long-term support to respond to a
crisis-within-a crisis: the worst locust outbreak in decades. Our
support will help hard-hit farmers and rural communities control locust
swarms, withstand the dual crises of COVID19 and locusts, and get money
into peoples pockets and equipment into farmers hands to recover,
including through cash transfers, seed and fodder packages and other
social safety nets.
Prevention
Were committed to helping countries prevent the next disease from
emerging and be better prepared when risks materialize.
World Bank experience with the Avian Influenza shows that
cross-sectoral, coordinated investments in human, environmental and
animal health (One Health approach) are a cost-effective way to manage
risks and control diseases at the source. Over 70% of emerging
infectious diseases (EID) in humans have their source in animals.
Transmission of pathogens from animals to humans and EIDs are increasing
in a rapidly changing environment, with deforestation, land-use change
and rapid population growth amplifying the exposure of humans to
diseases carried by animals.
Under the first COVID-19 package of World Bank Group financing,
countries are able to invest in longer-term prevention, such as
strengthened veterinary services, disease surveillance and food safety.
In India, for example, the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health
Systems Preparedness Project will improve disease surveillance systems
in humans and animals and health information systems across the country.
In China, a new project will improve risk-based surveillance systems for
zoonotic and other emerging health threats, strengthen the capacity for
risk assessment and diagnosis and monitoring networks for human, animal
and wildlife diseases, and improve protocols for information sharing
between relevant agencies.
--
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