Pandemic to deepen food insecurity beyond 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.