COVID-19 and food security

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Six months later, the global number of cases has breached 25,000,000 and the number of deaths worldwide is nearing 900,000 (1). This is disturbing because, without a vaccine or a widely distributed and affordable therapeutic program, more people will be sidelined from their work... particularly in rural areas where poor people, with limited access to health facilities during the best of times, live. 

How does COVID-19 pandemic affect food security?

The way I see it, the pandemic affects two components of food security: food availability and food accessibility (2). 

Food availability

This component of food security involves food production, which always involves agriculture. Agriculture plays a major role in the economy of rural areas in less economically developed countries (3). It is the main source of livelihood and food in rural areas. Moreover, populations living in urban areas rely on produce coming from rural areas. If COVID-19 were to spread in farmer communities and people become too sick to work the land, rural economies could ground to a halt. Unfortunately, the disease has reached the Central Valley of California, where farmworkers and food processors work and live in high-population density situations (4). This means that there will be a proportion of fruit and veggies that will be left unharvested because labourers are quarantined, waiting for their results.

Food accessibility

Food may be available and storage facilities may have an adequate supply. This does not mean, however, that people can actually access the food. We then look at how food is transported and distributed. Because of the mode of transmission of COVID-19 (aerosols), people are ordered to isolate themselves and stay at home except to buy essential supplies or to go to the hospital. For people selling fresh produce, they might have difficulty delivering their produce into the distribution centres because towns have been closed and nobody could go in or out without special permits. Groceries and public markets might be open but the number of people entering is monitored and controlled. The end result? Non-producers have limited access to food. Income class doesn't matter as much because if food cannot enter a town or a city at all, then nobody's getting fed.

What can we do?

At this point, everyone's movements are limited because the risk of getting sick is high. Survival is our first priority (when was it not, anyway?). But we need to think of the community rather than individually. Yes, we need to procure enough food to cover the time we are hunkered at home so we don't have to go out frequently. But we do not need to buy in excess because there won't be food left for other consumers and because food has an expiry date; too much food means a lot of waste.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic#Famine

2. https://www.foodsource.org.uk/building-blocks/what-food-security#FSBB21

3. https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/Agricultures_Contribution_to_Rural_Development.htm#:~:text=In%20rural%20areas%20throughout%20the,the%20viability%20of%20rural%20areas.&text=In%20some%20countries%2C%20farming%20may,of%20the%20population%20in%20employment.

4. https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-california-struggles-with-covid-19-farmworkers-are-among-most-affected-11597665116