COVID-19 Pandemic – Impact on Food, Lives, and Agriculture?
COVID-19 PANDEMIC – IMPACT ON FOOD, LIVES, AND AGRICULTURE?
Lives are at risk from this pandemic, does this impact agriculture? What would be the future of agriculture?
Though in some countries the spread of the pandemic has been slowing down and cases are decreasing, in others, COVID-19 is resurging or continuing to spread quickly. This is still a global problem calling for a global response.
Though in some countries the spread of the pandemic has been slowing down and cases are decreasing, in others, COVID-19 is resurging or continuing to spread quickly. This is still a global problem calling for a global response.
This is due mostly to undersupply of food – as incomes fall, poor remittances, and in some contexts, the rise of consuming food. In countries more or less affected by high levels of acute food insecurity, it is no longer a food access issue alone, but increasingly a food production issue. In the COVID-19 crisis food security, public health, and labour issues, in particular workers’ health and safety, converge. Adhering to workplace safety and health practices and ensuring access to decent work and the safeguarding of labour rights in all industries will be crucial in addressing the human dimension of the crisis.
Immediate and purposeful action to save lives and livelihoods should include enlarging social protection towards universal health coverage and income support for those most affected. These include workers in the informal economy and low-paid jobs, including young, older workers. Particular attention must be paid to the situation of women, who are over-represented in low-paid jobs and care roles. Different forms of support are key, including cash transfers, child allowances, and healthy school meals, shelters, and food relief initiatives, support for employment retention and fast recovery, and financial relief for businesses, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. In designing and implementing such measures it is essential that government works closely with employers and workers to develop the situation to a better level.
Meantime many questions are rising what could agriculture be due to lack of awareness of food safety products, using chemicals does that affect the human body after COVID vaccination, what could be the impact?
From the first wave of the COVID, farmers faced many difficulties to sell their harvest to the market which causes wastage, the fear effect continues the farmers during the second, and stopping them from harvesting, such many problems started to rise, and that cause keeping farmers from agriculture.
In order mitigate the problem the government is required to have a proper plan as a preparation to minimize the impact on human’s life by food after COVID 19.
“The Cabinet of Ministers in Sri Lanka has approved the purchase of chemical fertilizer beginning April 2020. The Department of Agriculture is drafting a cropping plan for the minor season, with more emphasis on import-substituting crops. This is a precautionary measure to face possible export restrictions of other countries and to release the pressure on the rupee exchange rate by reducing imports, report says”
Article by
Mr. Shafras Shajahan
Senior Executive International marketing
The International Institute of Knowledge Management
