Food security during the COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity has intensified in many places – in the second quarter of 2020 there were multiple warnings of famine later in the year.[3][4] In an early report, the Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Oxfam-International talks about "economic devastation"[5] while the lead-author of the UNU-WIDER report compared COVID-19 to a "poverty tsunami".[6] Others talk about "complete destitution",[7] "unprecedented crisis",[8] "natural disaster",[9] "threat of catastrophic global famine".[10] The decision of WHO on 11 March 2020, to qualify COVID as a pandemic, that is "an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people" also contributed to building this global-scale disaster narrative.[11]
Date
1 December 2019–present
4 years, 4 months and 3 weeks
2019–2021 locust infestation, ongoing armed conflicts, COVID-19 pandemic (including associated recession, lockdowns and travel restrictions)
Field evidence collected in more than 60 countries in the course of 2020[12] indicate however that while some disruptions (affecting the stability of the global food system) were reported at local (hoarding) and international (restrictions on exports) levels, those took place primarily during the early days/weeks of the pandemic (and the subsequent waves of lockdowns) and did not lead to any major episode of "global famine", thus invalidating the catastrophic scenario that some experts had initially conjectured.
In September 2020, David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, addressed the United Nations Security Council, stating that measures taken by donor countries over the course of the preceding five months, including the provision of $17 trillion in fiscal stimulus and central bank support, the suspension of debt repayments instituted by the IMF and G20 countries for the benefit of poorer countries, and donor support for WFP programmes, had averted impending famine, helping 270 million people at risk of starvation.[13] As the pandemic-incited food issues began to subside, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered another global food crises compounding already extreme price increases.[14][15][16][17][18]
: The Union issued a declaration, describing "deep concern" in the continent, urging member states to prioritise farmers and food production as essential services and called upon "UN agencies, multilateral development banks, donor countries and other partners to consider the emergency as urgent and step up and provide financial and other resources to help countries that do not have the resources to adequately respond to this crisis".[71]
African Union
: The EU supported the release of the Global Report on Food Crises by the UN, and said it was "working to address the root causes of extreme hunger" as part of an "international alliance".[72]
European Union
: Dominique Burgeon, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization called for increased support for poorer and high-risk nations, stating "This is a matter of international solidarity, and humanity, but also a matter of global security... The world community needs to come together. We can avoid food shortages if we are able to support countries across the globe."[73]
