CONTRIBUTORS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Building back better on food and agriculture
By QU Dongyu , Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organisation ( FAO ) of the United Nations ( UN )
The FAO has expanded on a comprehensive response and recovery programme to overcome the impacts of Covid-19 through up-scaled and robust international collaboration .
As the impacts of Covid-19 take
their toll on human health and well-being around the world , the imperative of producing and ensuring access to healthy food for each and every one of us must not be overlooked . The food systems that must give daily sustenance to all humans on this planet are under threat by the pandemic . If we want to avoid what could be the worst food crisis in modern history , we need robust and strategic international cooperation on an extraordinary scale .
Even before the pandemic , global food systems and food security were strained by many factors , including pests , poverty , conflicts and the impacts of climate change . According to the latest FAO report on The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World , in 2019 close to 690 million – or nearly one in ten people in the world – were hungry . The Covid-19 pandemic could push an additional 130 million people worldwide into chronic hunger by the end of 2020 . Furthermore , in 2019 three billion people did not have access to healthy diets and suffered from other forms of malnutrition .
Due to the pandemic and related containment measures , we have already experienced disruptions in global food supply chains , labor shortages and lost harvests . Now we are seeing a delayed planting season . Around 4.5 billion people depend on food systems for their jobs and livelihoods , working to produce , collect , store , process , transport and distribute food to consumers , as well as to feed themselves and their families . The pandemic has put 35 % of food system employment at risk , impacting women at an even higher rate . Farmers at a field school in Angola .
FAO
38 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za COLD LINK AFRICA • January / February 2021