COVID-19 IMPACT TO FOOD & AGRICULTURE

The global pandemic is impacting worldwide food systems, disrupting regional agricultural value chains, and posing risks to household food security.   Global food trade has to be kept going. One of every 5 calories people eat have crossed at least 1 international border. Low and middle-income countries account for around a third of the world's food trade, which provides very significant contributions both to incomes and welfare. Countries that depend on imported food are especially vulnerable to slowing trade volumes.

The bulk of food-supply actions take place within countries.  However, there are still supply chains, which in the case of farmers are a complex web of interactions involving farmers and farm laborers, key inputs such as fertilizers, seeds and veterinary medicines, processing plants, freight distributors, retailers and more. This global pandemic will quickly strain such webs, so to prevent food shortages, every effort must be made to keep them intact and moving efficiently. While we all know that fruit that goes unpicked or unsold will go bad, similar interactive time constraints are common along the chain. Ultimately, farmers won't grow what nobody can buy, so the issue is about affordability but also availability and accessibility.  AgroBiz is available to provide assistance to those emerging entrepreneurs, harvesters, and small scale farmers or those who need it most.