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AU-FAO Ministerial meeting (virtual) implications of COVID-19 for food security in Africa

16/apr/20








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    Booklet
    COVID-19 and the impact on food security in the Near East and North Africa: How to respond? 2020
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    Since the declaration by WHO of the COVID-19 as a Global Pandemic on 15 March, governments of the Near East and North Africa region have imposed a series of measures to slow down the spread of the disease. This policy brief aims at summarizing the potential impacts of COVID-19 and associated measures on agriculture and food security in the region and proposes measures to mitigate the impacts on food security and nutrition with special attention to the most vulnerable segments of societies. Ample food supplies exist globally despite COVID-19’s impacts. COVID-19 has considerably disrupted the world supply chains around the world and raised the spectre of food unavailability. Despite these worries, global cereal markets are expected to remain balanced and comfortable. While localized disruptions, largely due to logistical issues, pose challenges to food supply chains in some markets, their anticipated duration and magnitude are unlikely to have a significant effect on global food markets, at least in the medium term. Food supplies and reserves are satisfactory in most countries in the NENA region, but worries remain for countries affected by conflicts and instability. The situation of food availability in the NENA region is generally in line with global level, with cereals reserves at a satisfactory level in most countries, despite the region is highly dependent on cereal imports and therefore vulnerable to global markets disruption. Prospects for cereal production in 2020 are generally good, with the exception of the Maghreb where drought and above-average temperatures have impacted cereal production
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security in Africa 2020
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    In addition to its drastic impact to human health globally, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on the economies globally and notably in Africa. Countries on the continent have taken various measures to try and contain the spread of COVID-19 such as lockdowns, curfews, closure of borders and other movement restrictions including quarantines and roadblocks, closure of markets, fear of animals, among others. Early indications suggest that the impact on agriculture and food security and levels of poverty and malnutrition will be significant if urgent actions are not taken. Although the economic impacts of COVID-19 will be more significant than the SARS epidemic, the H1N1 flu epidemic and the Ebola epidemic, COVID-19 impact on economic well-being will be observed through two distinct but similar channels. First are the direct and indirect effects of the sickness and mortality, which will lead to an increase in health care costs and loss of economic activity of infected individuals during their illness. Second, are the behavioral effects resulting from people’s fear of contagion and measures taken by governments to control the spread of the infection. The impacts of essential containment/isolation and distancing measures on social and economic well-being are yet to be realized and could have tremendous effects, notably among the most vulnerable.

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