Countries must prepare for future "shocks" to their agricultural and food systems from droughts, floods or diseases following the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a UN agency said Tuesday.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has left the fragilities of national agri-food systems widely exposed," the Food and Agriculture Organization said in an annual report.

"An obvious reason to address these fragilities is, of course, the unwelcome increase in food insecurity and malnutrition," the FAO said in the document on the state of the agri-food business.

Agri-food systems include production, food supply chains, transport networks and consumption.

Three billion people around the world already cannot afford a healthy diet to protect themselves against malnutrition, the FAO said.

"An additional one billion people are at risk as they would not be able to afford a healthy diet if a shock were to reduce their incomes by one-third," the report said.

In a report in July, the FAO said that between 720 million and 811 million people faced hunger in 2020 -- some 161 million more than in 2019, largely due to the pandemic.

"Risk management strategies for shocks such as droughts, floods and pests -- including multi-risk assessments, timely forecasts, early warning systems and early action plans -- are key to help all agri-food systems... prevent and anticipate major disruptions," the FAO said in Tuesday's report.

The FAO has established "resilience" indicators to help countries identify vulnerabilities in their food systems.

The indicators measure the robustness of a country's primary production, the extent of food availability, and the degree of people's access to adequate food.

Countries can "look for their weaknesses" and fix them through these tools, FAO economist Andrea Cattaneo, the coordinator of the report, told AFP.

Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Turn a global warming liability into a profitable food security solution
Stanford CA (SPX) Nov 23, 2021
Like a mirage on the horizon, an innovative process for converting a potent greenhouse gas into a food security solution has been stalled by economic uncertainty. Now, a first-of-its-kind Stanford University analysis evaluates the market potential of the approach, in which bacteria fed captured methane grow into protein-rich fishmeal. The study, published Nov. 22 in Nature Sustainability, finds production costs involving methane captured from certain sources in the U.S. are lower than the market p ... read more