Five stark COVID-19 warnings from the agriculture R4D sector
As communities around the world cope with the novel coronavirus, it’s becoming clearer that the way we produce, trade and consume our food is undeniably linked to this crisis. And as long as ecosystems degrade and biodiversity is lost due to agriculture and other uses, zoonic diseases like COVID-19 are an increasing threat. In the short term, our economies and food systems are put to the test as never before, with the risk falling on the most vulnerable.
The agricultural Research for Development (R4D) sector is becoming increasingly relevant as potential crises loom. Some key warnings are surfacing from recent dispatches, reports and events across the CGIAR and around the globe. Here are five for us to heed:
1. Food supply chains and markets in the developing world are at risk
Researchers across centers predict food price increases, particularly locally for some vegetables and other perishables, as a result of transportation and value chain bottlenecks. And globally for some staples because of short-term and medium-term export restrictions that some countries have put in place. For example, trade restrictions for rice, if they persist, and associated rising prices of staples like rice could push millions of people — especially those in Africa — into deeper food insecurity, notes the Africa Rice Center. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) launched a food export restrictions tracker as well as a COVID-19 Food Price Monitor to monitor changes in trade restrictions and food prices in selected wholesale and retail markets for a range of food products.
But just getting this season’s crops harvested is posing a dilemma to some governments: how can farmers harvest without violating lockdown and physical distancing rules? One way to address this is by utilizing satellite technology, which is much more accessible now than it used to be. Maps identifying harvest dates, developed by the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) can aid authorities in deciding where to release rural lockdown rules or where to send machinery and trucks for harvesting, helping to prevent food from going to waste in the fields.
Other maps show where both above and below-average rainfall is expected and coincides with areas where the pandemic is becoming prevalent but disaster preparedness is limited. Satellite technology is already being used to compensate farmers after floods strike, like in Bihar, India. COVID-19 may hit communities that face the risk of flooding hardest, as climate change multiplies risks.
And communities are feeling the impact of COVID-19 on food supplies far beyond the production stage. Both rural and urban consumers rely more than ever on markets to purchase food. Urban dwellers saw some of the most direct reductions to market access but many rural consumers are also hit by the closing of wet markets and the hold-up of food at country, province or city borders; combined with large income declines, greater uncertainty and some non-delivery, particularly of perishable foods has driven up the cost of adequate diets.
For example, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) tells us that in India, “while vegetable and fruit producers are in a stress-selling mode, staring at downward price trends, consumers in urban areas are having to pay increased prices due to limited availability. Smallholders are also holding on to their produce as most agriculture markets or mandis are closed… There is a risk of a glut and crashing of market prices after the lockdown that can dangerously drive the farmers into more losses.….”
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