Miller Magazine Issue: 127 July 2020

17 NEWS MILLER / JULY 2020 food, increasingly restricting the cash liquidity of far- mers, and handicapping farmers' ability to produce and market food -- which in the longer term could seriously degrade their livelihoods. Before the pandemic, 135 million people worldwi- de were already coping with acute hunger caused by conflict, climate shocks, and economic downturns, ac- cording to the 2020 edition of the Global Report on Food Crises, produced by FAO, the European Union and 13 other partners. Another 183 million were at risk of being pushed into extreme hunger if faced with an additional stressor. Maximo Torero, the chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said the world’s food systems were under threat as never before in recent times, as the pandemic and lockdowns hampered pe- ople’s ability to harvest and buy and sell food. “We need to be careful,” he said. “This is a very different food crisis than the ones we have seen.” LOCKDOWNS ARE SLOWING HARVESTS Harvests are healthy and supplies of staple foods such as grains are “robust”, according to the UN report on the impact of Covid-19 on food security and nutrition. But most people get their food from local markets, whi- ch are vulnerable to disruption from lockdowns. Incre- asing unemployment and the loss of income associated with lockdowns are also putting food out of reach for many struggling people. Though global markets have remained steady, the price of basic foods has begun to rise in some countries. Lockdowns are slowing harvests, while millions of se- asonal labourers are unable to work. Food waste has reached damaging levels, with farmers forced to dump perishable produce as the result of supply chain prob- lems, and in the meat industry plants have been forced to close in some countries. Even before the lockdowns, the global food system was failing in many areas, according to the UN. The report pointed to conflict, natural disasters, the clima- te crisis, and the arrival of pests and plant and animal plagues as existing problems. East Africa, for instance, is facing the worst swarms of locusts for decades, whi- le heavy rain is hampering relief efforts.The additional impact of the coronavirus crisis and lockdowns, and the resulting recession, would compound the damage and tip millions into dire hunger, experts warned. As part of the revised UN Humanitarian Appeal for COVID-19, FAO has asked for $350 million to sup- port a range of activities aimed at helping poor farmers continue to operate, safeguard the continuity of food supply chains and markets, and prevent the food sector from being a vector of transmission for the disease.