The ASEAN Post highlights measures to avoid food crisis amid pandemic

Hanoi (VNA) – The ASEAN Post on May 11 published an article titled “Building food security during the pandemic”, calling on the international community to act immediately to keep food supply chains operating.

The article spotlighted urgent measures that countries need to take to ensure food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is seriously affecting agriculture and food processing.

Governments of countries, especially underdeveloped nations, should provide cash transfers and safe food distribution channels to ensure that vulnerable citizens are protected, it said.

Policymakers need to focus on clearing logistics bottlenecks in both domestic and international value chains so that food can move freely between and within countries, it added.

The article also underlined the necessity to apply technological solutions to agricultural production and implement self-sufficiency policy to reduce countries’ reliance on food imports.

At the global level, policymakers must implement four types of action, including increasing funding for food-relief and social-protection measures in poor countries, investing in local agricultural production, alleviating disruptions to global food and agricultural produce supply chains by supporting regional and local logistics hubs, and encouraging the private sector to fund agro-processing and agri-tech companies, it said.

The article noted that resources should be channelled rapidly toward investment opportunities that are emerging as a result of the pandemic, especially for innovative value-chain solutions.

Top of FormIt said these solutions should be implemented rapidly if the humankind want to prevent a catastrophic food crisis in developing countries./.