Last Updated on April 9, 2020, 9:14 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The present outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus would massively disrupt food supplies across the world.
Some of the world’s biggest food companies have warned that if the Governments all around the world do not take the required steps to handle the situation, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger around the world could double.
Unilever, PepsiCo and Nestlé along with other farmers’ organisations, the UN Foundation, civil and academics society groups, have written to the leaders across the world, and have called on them to keep their borders open to trade so that they might help the society’s most vulnerable and to invest in food production which is environmentally sustainable.
They have requested the Governments to take urgent coordinated action to stop the COVID-19 pandemic from turning into a global food crisis.
They are of the opinion that maintaining open trade would be the key to prevent this from happening; also, investing in food supply chains and protecting farmers around the world would be helpful.
The G20 is currently under increasing pressure to act.
A group of Nobel prize-winning economists and former senior development bank officials have written to the forum saying that trillions of dollars would be required to help the developing world cope up with the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 100 former heads of government including Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and Nicolas Sarkozy have also called on the G20 to act urgently or risk recurrent outbreaks this week.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation is worried that, although harvests around the world are good and enough food is being produced to feed the whole world, yet the export restrictions and tariffs imposed by some Governments may create shortages of food around the world.
The urgent warning from food industry leaders has come forward after some countries have begun restricting certain food items.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
