August 12, 2020 | 1 minute read

COVID-19 global food security = Food Availability, Access, Utilization, Stability

Get in touch

Chris Würdemann

Global Senior Director Strategic Development & Operational Excellence

Get in touch

Chris Würdemann

Global Senior Director Strategic Development & Operational Excellence

"COVID-19 risks to global food security"-Science 31 Jul 2020

Food Availability, Access, Utilization, Stability

That COVID-19 has affected different global supply chains in different industries e.g. in food has been shown and discussed in different examples and articles.

But what is the impact and risk on different value chains (traditional vs. modern), different products and the product prices, public food distribution systems and food relief programs and finally the workers and the consumer demands, needs, buying behaviours regarding nutrition and food security.- Are these impacts connected?

I think this article is great as it gives a good, detailed overview of the COVID-19 impact on the global food security, the diversity and connection between different effects and the influences on each other.

“COVID-19 is most directly and severely impacting access to food, even though impacts are also felt through disruptions to availability; shifts in consumer demand toward cheaper, less nutritious foods; and food price instability. We outline the main threats COVID-19 poses to food security and suggest critical responses that policy-makers should consider to prevent this global health crisis from becoming a global food crisis. We outline the main threats COVID-19 poses to food security and suggest critical responses that policy-makers should consider to prevent this global health crisis from becoming a global food crisis.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, trade-offs have emerged between the need to contain the virus and to avoid disastrous economic and food security crises that hurt the world's poor and hungry most. Although no major food shortages have emerged as yet, agricultural and food markets are facing disruptions because of labor shortages created by restrictions on movements of people and shifts in food demand resulting from closures of restaurants and schools as well as from income losses. Export restrictions imposed by some countries have disrupted trade flows for staple foods such as wheat and rice. The pandemic is affecting all four pillars of food security (1): availability (is the supply of food adequate?), access (can people obtain the food they need?), utilization (do people have enough intake of nutrients?), and stability (can people access food at all times?).