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International Trade Working Paper

Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Trade in the Commonwealth











Vickers, B., Ali, S., Zhuawu, C., Zimmermann, A., Attaallah, H., and Dervisholli, E. 2020. International Trade Working Paper 2020/15. London, Commonwealth Secretariat and FAO.


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    The purpose of this information paper is to update information on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the fisheries and aquaculture sector and the measures taken, to inform on the ongoing impact on the fisheries and aquaculture food systems, and responses from seafood providers and governments to counteract the negative impacts on seafood chains.
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    Between 1999 and 2002 FAO undertook a series of 23 country case studies to evaluate the impact of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) on agricultural trade and food security in developing countries. The objectives of these studies were to assess the extent to which the AoA commitments had led to changes in domestic agricultural policy, to evaluate the impact on trade flows (imports and exports) of developing countries and to assess whether implementing the AoA commitments had had any impact o n food security. An important finding was that for most of the countries in the sample, the implementation of AoA commitments did not imply any major change to domestic agricultural policy, including trade policy. The main reason was that most of the countries had implemented during the 1980s and early 1990s unilateral reforms including the liberalization of international trade, often as part of the conditionality of adjustment loans. Some of these were bound as part of their multilateral commit ments in Uruguay Round. In other cases, commitments were made in terms of ceiling bindings or reduction from bound rates which diverged considerably from existing applied levels. It became clear that in order to make a realistic assessment of the impact of trade-related policy reforms on food security, it was necessary to extend the analysis over a period that included the implementation of substantial unilateral reforms.
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    The COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, generating significant challenges that could result in risks to food security and nutrition in many countries. Countries are ordering lockdowns, restricting movement and observing physical distancing to curb the pandemic. Disruptions in supply chains resulting from blockages on transport routes, transport restrictions and quarantine measures are resulting in significant increases in food loss and waste, especially of perishable agricultural produce such as fruits and vegetables, fish, meat and dairy products. In addition, labour shortages, owing to the restriction of movement of key stakeholders in production and transport, are significantly impacting food supply and demand owing to food shortages in some markets, further contributing to food loss and to the unnecessary waste of food supplies in these difficult times. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) encourages countries to adopt holistic approaches to tackle food loss and waste reduction, in an effort to facilitate access to food for all and particularly for vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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