The Vulnerability and Resilience of African Food Systems, Food Security, and Nutrition in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the globe, ebbing and flowing from one region to the next, new infections and deaths continue to rise (Johns Hopkins 2020). Some of the first documented cases in Africa occurred in areas frequented by foreign tourists. Early on, the disease also circulated among Africa’s jet-setting political classes that had spent time in other regions of the world with higher infection rates. Since then, infections have taken off in the continent’s urban areas that are better connected globally via trade and travel. From there, it has spread to smaller cities, towns, and then to rural areas, a process known as hierarchical diffusion (Moseley 2020a). Unfortunately, there is another scourge that accompanies COVID-19, and that is a global hunger pandemic. In April 2020, the director of the World Food Programme warned that an additional 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020 because of the coronavirus. This comes on top of the 821 million people in the world who are already food insecure (Khorsandi 2020). Increasingly, scholars of food security, food systems, and poverty have come to realize that the hunger and malnutrition associated with COVID-19 may actually kill or debilitate more people than the disease itself, especially in regions of the world with weaker social safety nets (Fanzo 2020; HLPE 2020a, 2020b; UN 2020).

COVID-19's implications on agri-food systems and human health in Bangladesh

“… Source: Based on Aday and Aday, 2020 ; Adhikari et al, 2021 ; Arouna et al, 2020 ; de Paulo Farias and de Araújo, 2020 ; Devereux et al, 2020 ; Dihel and Rizwa, 2020 ; Erokhin and Gao, 2020 ; FAO, 2020c ; FAO, 2020d ; FAO, 2020f , FSIN, 2020 ; Headey et al, 2020 ; HLPE, 2020a ; HLPE, 2020b ; Huizar et al, 2020 ; Huss et al, 2021 ; Kim et al, 2020 ; Laborde et al, 2020 ; Moseley and Battersby, 2020 ; Niles et al, 2020 ; Pereira and Oliveira, 2020 ; Swinnen and McDermott, 2020 ; Udmale et al, 2020 ; UN, 2020 , UNICEF, 2020a ; WFP, 2020 ; Workie et al, 2020 ; UNSCN, 2021 . …”

COVID‐19 and food prices in sub‐Saharan Africa

“…This view is in line with Paslakis et al (2020), who observe that food price increases, food shortages and income losses cannot be disassociated from the COVID‐19 pandemic. Other studies like Moseley and Battersby (2020), however, expect that African food systems would be relatively less vulnerable to disruption by the COVID‐19 outbreak due to fewer large‐scale commercial farms that would have been disrupted with restrictions on movements. The above studies suggest the effect of COVID‐19 on food prices in Africa is an empirical question, which we seek to answer in this study.…”

Metacoupled Tourism and Wildlife Translocations Affect Synergies and Trade-Offs among Sustainable Development Goals across Spillover Systems

“…The most recent case is the novel coronavirus COVID-19, which was believed bat trade-related [44], and has spread on a global scale, and resulted in over 23 million people infected and more than 800,000 people died as of 23 August 2020 [45]. The affected spillover systems go beyond the better connected urban areas to smaller cities, towns, and rural areas globally through trade and travel [91]. Beyond public health (SDG 3), the COVID-19 may have impacts on all of the 17 SDGs.…”

“…Beyond public health (SDG 3), the COVID-19 may have impacts on all of the 17 SDGs. For example, the ongoing pandemic, the lockdown, and the travel restriction around the world have imposed negative impacts on poverty alleviation (SDG 1) [92], food security (SDG 2) (availability, access, utilization, and stability) [91,93], quality education (SDG 4) [94], gender equality (SDG 5) [94], sustainable energy (SDG 7) [95], and reducing inequality (SDG 10) [92], the tourism industry [96,97], and the world economy [98] (SDG 8). Moreover, although the reduced economic activities have resulted in some unexpected profit of climate change mitigation (SDG 13) [99], improved water quality in some areas (SDG 6) [100], and improved air quality in some urban areas (SDG 11) [101,102], negative environmental impacts such as increased pharmaceutical and household waste and consumption (SDG 12) increase challenges in management [103].…”