THE FUTURE OF FOOD SYSTEMS AND FOOD SECURITY IN CONTEXT OF LESSONS LEARNED FROM COVID-19 PANDEMIC AS A GLOBAL CHALLENGE: INSIGHTS FROM A QUALITATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The study aims to help rethink the future of food systems and food security in context of lessons learned from COVID-19 pandemic as global challenge from a qualitative perspective. The pandemic disrupted global food systems that were already at risk to many threats such as climate change, natural resources degradation, extreme weather events, regional conflicts, low productivity, high population growth, and economic slowdown. The paper uses qualitative perspective to analyse COVID-19 effects on food systems and food security, identifies ways to establish resilient and sustainable food systems, and presents a roadmap to achieving a food-secure world by 2030. The findings indicates that the COVID-19 impacted the cash flow at both local and international levels and the financial state of producers, and agri-businesses causing low productivity, limited market accessibility, loss of employment, increased health costs, increased poverty levels, malnutrition, and deaths. Building sustainable and resilient food systems requires; supporting small-medium sized enterprises, strengthening international markets, technological innovations, promoting shorter and more diversified food value chains, and supporting small-scale farmers and rural women is inevitable.

Full text

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AgroLife Scientic Journal - Volume 12, Number 1, 2023
ISSN 2285-5718; ISSN CD-ROM 2285-5726; ISSN ONLINE 2286-0126; ISSN-L 2285-5718
THE FUTURE OF FOOD SYSTEMS AND FOOD SECURITY IN CONTEXT
OF LESSONS LEARNED FROM COVID-19 PANDEMIC AS A GLOBAL
CHALLENGE: INSIGHTS FROM A QUALITATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Benson NJORA, Hasan YILMAZ
Isparta University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture,
Department of Agricultural Economics, Isparta, Turkey, 32260, Isparta, Turkey
Corresponding author email: wanduben12@gmail.com
Abstract
The study aims to help rethink the future of food systems and food security in context of lessons learned from COVID-19
pandemic as global challenge from a qualitative perspective. The pandemic disrupted global food systems that were
already at risk to many threats such as climate change, natural resources degradation, extreme weather events, regional
conflicts, low productivity, high population growth, and economic slowdown. The paper uses qualitative perspective to
analyse COVID-19 effects on food systems and food security, identifies ways to establish resilient and sustainable food
systems, and presents a roadmap to achieving a food-secure world by 2030. The findings indicates that the COVID-19
impacted the cash flow at both local and international levels and the financial state of producers, and agri-businesses
causing low productivity, limited market accessibility, loss of employment, increased health costs, increased poverty
levels, malnutrition, and deaths. Building sustainable and resilient food systems requires; supporting small-medium sized
enterprises, strengthening international markets, technological innovations, promoting shorter and more diversified food
value chains, and supporting small-scale farmers and rural women is inevitable.
Key words: COVID-19, future of food, food security, food safety, food systems.
INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 pandemic is a health and
humanitarian crisis that started in late 2019 from
China and spread all over the world by March
2020. The pandemic not only affected people’s
health but has been a major threat to global
economies at both local and international levels.
The COVID-19 pandemic threats to food
systems and the global food security state have
been increasing ever since the outbreak. Before
the outbreak, food systems were at great risks
such as global warming, climate change, low
productivity, agricultural land degradation,
natural resources depletion, wars and conflict,
international trades wars, low and unstable
markets, fluctuating products prices, pests, and
plagues were already threatening food security
in many countries (HLPE, 2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a great
disruption to food supply and demand globally.
The pandemic has revealed different dynamics
that threaten global food security and food
systems. The pandemic disrupted the food
supply chain due to travel restrictions and
curfews; this made it hard to transport
agricultural commodities from producers to
consumers, and agricultural inputs to farmers.
Many people remained without a job, this fact
reducing their purchasing power lowering food
affordability rising the already worse food
insecurity rate especially in developing
countries (Béné et al., 2021). The international
supply chains were not prepared to respond
effectively to such threats caused by COVID-
19, they continue to feed the world but at very
high operation costs, damages, and disruption to
food systems with great impacts felt mostly by
the poor (UNSCN, 2019).
Food insecurity has been at an increasing trend
globally especially in developing countries.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, food
insecurity was a worldwide problem different
organization (such as IFAD, FAO, UNICEF,
WFP & WHO) and nations have been trying to
fight against. In 2019 the total number of food-
insecure people was 650.3 million. With the
Covid 19 pandemic, this situation worsened
within a year, increasing by 18% and the number
of people without food security reached 768
million. The COVID-19 has aggravated existing
threats to the agricultural sector thus making life

144
difficult for people involved in the food systems
either directly or indirectly (FAO, UNICEF,
IFAD, WFP and WHO, 2021).
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the
weakness in the food systems hence shedding
light on the urgent need to rethink the current
food systems and food security to not only work
on rebuilding food systems but also
transforming them in sustainable food systems.
A major shift of the current food systems is a
must to make them more sustainable, resilient,
equitable, environmentally friendly and
supportive of healthy diets (Fan & Gao, 2020).
The world needs to rebuild food systems from
the ideology of only maximizing to food
productivity food systems that will provide
quality food to all people, sustainable to the
environment, increasing availability and
affordability of food systems’ services and
inputs and strengthening food systems to
withstand against stressors and shocks of all
kinds such as pandemics, price volatility,
conflicts, climate change and natural disasters
(Sachs, 2021).
According to Gates (2021), “How to avoid a
climate disaster” predicts climate change to be
the next big threat to food systems and food
security. Globally, food systems remain a key
contributor greenhouse gas emissions
worldwide thus accelerating climate change,
also leading to substantial biodiversity loss of
which they depend on. To build climate-
friendly food systems, it is crucial to rethink the
current food systems from production,
transportation, processing, consumption, and
disposing of food waste to help curb greenhouse
gas emissions. The world can take an advantage
of the COVID-19 pandemic to help in
rebalancing and rebuilding food systems to
make them more inclusive, sustainable and
resilient. The COVID-19 presents great
opportunities for countries to rethink their
COVID-19 recovery strategies to not only
restore what they lost due to the pandemic but
also build back and better food systems that will
lead to the realization of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study used a qualitative approach using
secondary data sources to highlight lessons
learned from the covid-19 pandemic as a global
challenge in relation to food systems and food
security to help rethink the current food
systems’ models. The data was collected from
journals, articles, books, newsletters,
organizations such as FAO, UN, IFAD, OECD,
and UNSCN and from reports about COVID-19,
agriculture, food security, and food systems.
The study used the data to determine the effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic on food systems,
threats to food security and food systems, and in
establishing a roadmap to achieving a food
security in world by 2030.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
FOOD SYSTEMS
Food system refers to the chain of the market
and non-market activities, institutions, people,
and natural resources involved from land
preparation, production, storage, transportation,
marketing and distribution, food preparation and
consumption, waste management, and agro-
input supplies (FAO, 2018). In the 20th century,
food systems aimed solely at increasing food
production, and although the goal has not yet
been reached, significant progress has been
made. However, the increase in food production
has come with heavy costs (negative
externalities) such as inequalities,
environmental degradation and high greenhouse
gas emissions. In 2015, the international
communities led by the United Nations in their
effort to restructure global world food systems,
SDGs were set to help the world achieve food
security by 2030 (Caron et al., 2018). The 2030
Agenda for sustainable development has been
promoting the creation of food systems that are
more productive, resilient, and less wasteful
(Brooks and Jonathan, 2016). Before the
COVID-19 pandemic, the world was far from
achieving it, according to Béné et al. (2021), the
pandemic multiplying global food systems
vulnerability, affecting food systems’ actors,
and composing threats to food security and
nutrition (FSN) while exposing food systems’
weaknesses.
COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Food
Systems
According to Stephens et al. (2020) the COVID-
19 pandemic affected the agricultural sector
worldwide leading to low progress for achieving
SDGs in time. The pandemic increased the
poverty rate especially in developing countries
whereas the study emphasized that disruption of
food supply and demand led to high food prices
mostly in developed countries. The OECD
(2021a) COVID-19 and food systems report was
highlighted the disruption of food systems in
both the food transport and consumption sectors
during the pandemic. The pandemic led to travel
restrictions which affected the flow of goods and
services, this made it hard for consumers to
access quality food on time hence accelerating
the food insecurity state worldwide. The
COVID-19 pandemic affected people’s means
of survival by affecting food systems on which
they depended. Most employees in the transport
sector, food processing, marketing, and agro-
enterprises lost their jobs hence affecting their
capability to purchase healthy nutritious food
(Swinnen & Rob, 2021).
Globally food systems directly employ over 1
billion people as shown in Table 1. In
comparison with the number of jobs created,
over 3 billion livelihoods are dependent on the
food systems. The COVID-19 pandemic
affected the whole food system but some sectors
such as food processing, distribution and food
services were highly affected with around 60%
of food systems’ jobs and livelihoods exposed to
risks. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed 35% of
jobs in the food systems at risk whereas 35% of
livelihoods dependent on the food systems were
put at risk (UN, 2020).
Table 1. Jobs and Livelihoods at Risk in the Food Systems (in Millions)
Food Systems
COVID-19
Sectors
Jobs
Livelihoods
At-risk-jobs
% of food
systems job
At-risk-
livelihoods
% of food
systems
livelihoods
Primary
production
716.77
2,023.80
152.35
21
404.76
20
Food
processing
200.73
484.54
120.44
60
290.72
60
Food services
168.97
339.44
101.38
60
203.66
60
Distribution
services
96.34
241.48
57.81
60
144.89
60
Transportation
services
41.61
101.05
16.64
40
40.42
40
Machinery
6.51
13.18
1.72
26
3.48
26
Inputs
4.89
11.06
1.29
26
2.92
26
Research and
Development
0.13
0.29
0.02
15
0.03
10
Total
1,280.93
3,214.84
451.64
35%
1,090.89
34
Source: UN Policy Brief, 2020
Threats to Food Systems
The food systems have been under threat even
before the COVID-19 pandemic. This decade
(2020-2030) is referred to as a “decade of action
for sustainable development and the creation of
sustainable food systems” (Gliessman & De Wit
Montenegro, 2021). To achieve SDGs by 2030,
it is crucial to think beyond COVID-19
pandemic effects on food systems, countries,
public and private institutions and all other
actors in the food systems need to know threats
to food systems before COVID-19. This will
help in the development of strategies that will
not only focus on minimizing COVID-19 effects
on food systems but also solutions to threats to
food systems. According to Dury et al. (2019),
threats to food systems can be classified into;
political threats, economic threats, demographic
threats, social-cultural threats, biophysical and
environmental threats, and innovations,
technology, and infrastructures threats.
Inadequate policies supporting food systems’
actors have led to the ineffectiveness of the
systems. Balineau et al. (2021), noticed that poor
policies led to low agricultural productivity, low
incomes which in return reduced producers’
purchasing power exposing small-scale farmers
to food and nutrition insecurity.

145
difficult for people involved in the food systems
either directly or indirectly (FAO, UNICEF,
IFAD, WFP and WHO, 2021).
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the
weakness in the food systems hence shedding
light on the urgent need to rethink the current
food systems and food security to not only work
on rebuilding food systems but also
transforming them in sustainable food systems.
A major shift of the current food systems is a
must to make them more sustainable, resilient,
equitable, environmentally friendly and
supportive of healthy diets (Fan & Gao, 2020).
The world needs to rebuild food systems from
the ideology of only maximizing to food
productivity food systems that will provide
quality food to all people, sustainable to the
environment, increasing availability and
affordability of food systems’ services and
inputs and strengthening food systems to
withstand against stressors and shocks of all
kinds such as pandemics, price volatility,
conflicts, climate change and natural disasters
(Sachs, 2021).
According to Gates (2021), “How to avoid a
climate disaster” predicts climate change to be
the next big threat to food systems and food
security. Globally, food systems remain a key
contributor greenhouse gas emissions
worldwide thus accelerating climate change,
also leading to substantial biodiversity loss of
which they depend on. To build climate-
friendly food systems, it is crucial to rethink the
current food systems from production,
transportation, processing, consumption, and
disposing of food waste to help curb greenhouse
gas emissions. The world can take an advantage
of the COVID-19 pandemic to help in
rebalancing and rebuilding food systems to
make them more inclusive, sustainable and
resilient. The COVID-19 presents great
opportunities for countries to rethink their
COVID-19 recovery strategies to not only
restore what they lost due to the pandemic but
also build back and better food systems that will
lead to the realization of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study used a qualitative approach using
secondary data sources to highlight lessons
learned from the covid-19 pandemic as a global
challenge in relation to food systems and food
security to help rethink the current food
systems’ models. The data was collected from
journals, articles, books, newsletters,
organizations such as FAO, UN, IFAD, OECD,
and UNSCN and from reports about COVID-19,
agriculture, food security, and food systems.
The study used the data to determine the effects
of the COVID-19 pandemic on food systems,
threats to food security and food systems, and in
establishing a roadmap to achieving a food
security in world by 2030.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
FOOD SYSTEMS
Food system refers to the chain of the market
and non-market activities, institutions, people,
and natural resources involved from land
preparation, production, storage, transportation,
marketing and distribution, food preparation and
consumption, waste management, and agro-
input supplies (FAO, 2018). In the 20th century,
food systems aimed solely at increasing food
production, and although the goal has not yet
been reached, significant progress has been
made. However, the increase in food production
has come with heavy costs (negative
externalities) such as inequalities,
environmental degradation and high greenhouse
gas emissions. In 2015, the international
communities led by the United Nations in their
effort to restructure global world food systems,
SDGs were set to help the world achieve food
security by 2030 (Caron et al., 2018). The 2030
Agenda for sustainable development has been
promoting the creation of food systems that are
more productive, resilient, and less wasteful
(Brooks and Jonathan, 2016). Before the
COVID-19 pandemic, the world was far from
achieving it, according to Béné et al. (2021), the
pandemic multiplying global food systems
vulnerability, affecting food systems’ actors,
and composing threats to food security and
nutrition (FSN) while exposing food systems’
weaknesses.
COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Food
Systems
According to Stephens et al. (2020) the COVID-
19 pandemic affected the agricultural sector
worldwide leading to low progress for achieving
SDGs in time. The pandemic increased the
poverty rate especially in developing countries
whereas the study emphasized that disruption of
food supply and demand led to high food prices
mostly in developed countries. The OECD
(2021a) COVID-19 and food systems report was
highlighted the disruption of food systems in
both the food transport and consumption sectors
during the pandemic. The pandemic led to travel
restrictions which affected the flow of goods and
services, this made it hard for consumers to
access quality food on time hence accelerating
the food insecurity state worldwide. The
COVID-19 pandemic affected people’s means
of survival by affecting food systems on which
they depended. Most employees in the transport
sector, food processing, marketing, and agro-
enterprises lost their jobs hence affecting their
capability to purchase healthy nutritious food
(Swinnen & Rob, 2021).
Globally food systems directly employ over 1
billion people as shown in Table 1. In
comparison with the number of jobs created,
over 3 billion livelihoods are dependent on the
food systems. The COVID-19 pandemic
affected the whole food system but some sectors
such as food processing, distribution and food
services were highly affected with around 60%
of food systems’ jobs and livelihoods exposed to
risks. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed 35% of
jobs in the food systems at risk whereas 35% of
livelihoods dependent on the food systems were
put at risk (UN, 2020).
Table 1. Jobs and Livelihoods at Risk in the Food Systems (in Millions)
Food Systems
COVID-19
Sectors
Jobs
Livelihoods
At-risk-jobs
% of food
systems job
At-risk-
livelihoods
% of food
systems
livelihoods
Primary
production
716.77
2,023.80
152.35
21
404.76
20
Food
processing
200.73
484.54
120.44
60
290.72
60
Food services
168.97
339.44
101.38
60
203.66
60
Distribution
services
96.34
241.48
57.81
60
144.89
60
Transportation
services
41.61
101.05
16.64
40
40.42
40
Machinery
6.51
13.18
1.72
26
3.48
26
Inputs
4.89
11.06
1.29
26
2.92
26
Research and
Development
0.13
0.29
0.02
15
0.03
10
Total
1,280.93
3,214.84
451.64
35%
1,090.89
34
Source: UN Policy Brief, 2020
Threats to Food Systems
The food systems have been under threat even
before the COVID-19 pandemic. This decade
(2020-2030) is referred to as a “decade of action
for sustainable development and the creation of
sustainable food systems” (Gliessman & De Wit
Montenegro, 2021). To achieve SDGs by 2030,
it is crucial to think beyond COVID-19
pandemic effects on food systems, countries,
public and private institutions and all other
actors in the food systems need to know threats
to food systems before COVID-19. This will
help in the development of strategies that will
not only focus on minimizing COVID-19 effects
on food systems but also solutions to threats to
food systems. According to Dury et al. (2019),
threats to food systems can be classified into;
political threats, economic threats, demographic
threats, social-cultural threats, biophysical and
environmental threats, and innovations,
technology, and infrastructures threats.
Inadequate policies supporting food systems’
actors have led to the ineffectiveness of the
systems. Balineau et al. (2021), noticed that poor
policies led to low agricultural productivity, low
incomes which in return reduced producers’
purchasing power exposing small-scale farmers
to food and nutrition insecurity.

146
According to Gaupp (2020), war and conflicts
expose food systems to great threats, citing
Yemen and South Sudan, wars disrupted food
production partners, which led to market
instability, and increased food dependence rate
for many people, fact that not only weakens the
food systems but also increases food insecurity
level. Increasing world population threatens
food security and food systems. By 2050, the
world’s population is expected to increase by
25% from the current figures, therefore, more
will be required food for the food systems to be
able to feed the rising population (Caron et al.,
2018). As pointed out by Serraj et al. (2018),
urbanization, aging farmers and rural-urban
migration pose major threats to food security.
Aging farmers and youth's great apathy towards
agriculture lowers productivity and technology
adoption in the agricultural sector, while rural-
urban migration reduces the number of people
engaged in food systems.
Figure 1 classifies major threats to food system.
It is evident that even before COVID-19, the
food systems were under serious threats, from
poor governance to fluctuating markets,
pollution, climate change, low innovations and
technology, war and conflicts as illustrated
(Aiyar & Pingali, 2020). It was emphasized by
Eufemia and Hussein (2020), low agricultural
commodities’ prices caused by the pandemic
altered food supply chains hence disrupting food
systems. Increased food prices reduced peoples’
purchasing power, high food loss, and waste
level where commodities that could not be
delivered to consumers in time hence increasing
food insecurity rates especially in developing
countries (Eufemia & Hussein, 2020). COVID-
19 offered an opportunity to reflect on what has
been going well and the weaknesses of the
current food systems creating the urgent need to
restructure food systems. According to FAO et
al. (2019), economic threats such as rising food
prices, low-income, inefficient finance systems,
and fluctuating markets have been affecting
food systems in both developing and developed
countries. In late 2019, international agricultural
markets were affected in return affecting
production, transportation, storage, processing,
and consumption patterns all over the world.
According to Raouf et al. (2020) COVID-19 not
only did it made food systems weak but also did
shed light on areas to work on towards creating
sustainable and resilient food systems
Figure 1. Threats to food systems
Sources: Authors’ work
Building Resilient Food Systems
Building resilience of food systems has become
a topical issue giving the increment of shocks
and stressors adding risks and uncertainty to the
food systems. A resilient food system is a
system that has the capacity to withstand shocks,
absorb the effects of the shocks, and make it
easier to recover from the shocks to its normal
or even to a better state quickly (Babu & Dorosh,
2017).
According to Zimmerer and Haan (2021),
strengthening global food systems will require
an increase of informal food chain resilience
using agrobiodiversity, empowering social
groups, rural communities, and urban food
systems to ensure no one is left behind. The
disruptions triggered by the pandemic
highlighted the urgency to use agrobiodiversity
as a tool to increase the resilience of informal
food chains. Figure 2 illustrates the difference
between a resilient system and anti-resilient
systems; according to Marchese et al. (2018),
When a disturbance occurs, resilient systems are
able to absorb the shocks without suffering
much effects in comparison with anti-resilient
systems. However, when the systems are well
structured, they can recover and adapt quick and
even be better than they were before. Food
system transformation aims at ensuring people
have access to enough healthy diets, produce
using climate-friendly means, and empower
people to earn a good living from the food
systems (Gillespie et al., 2021). As illustrated in
Figure 3, nutrition, environmental goals, and
livelihoods are all interlinked towards creating a
resilient food system. According to Stefanovic
et al. (2020), a resilience system ensures food
systems are resilient to threats such as weather
extremes, climate change, pests and diseases,
and market anomalies. Ignoring the
interlinkages between the three dimensions will
produce unintended and uncompensated costs.
As the world focus on creating sustainable and
resilient food systems it is important to navigate
critical trade-offs such as food affordability,
improving nutrition, earning decent wage from
food systems and paying the true environmental
cost (OECD, 2020).
Figure 2. System resilience stages
Source: Marchese et al. (2018)
Figure 3. Food systems outcomes
Source: IFAD, 2021

147
According to Gaupp (2020), war and conflicts
expose food systems to great threats, citing
Yemen and South Sudan, wars disrupted food
production partners, which led to market
instability, and increased food dependence rate
for many people, fact that not only weakens the
food systems but also increases food insecurity
level. Increasing world population threatens
food security and food systems. By 2050, the
world’s population is expected to increase by
25% from the current figures, therefore, more
will be required food for the food systems to be
able to feed the rising population (Caron et al.,
2018). As pointed out by Serraj et al. (2018),
urbanization, aging farmers and rural-urban
migration pose major threats to food security.
Aging farmers and youth's great apathy towards
agriculture lowers productivity and technology
adoption in the agricultural sector, while rural-
urban migration reduces the number of people
engaged in food systems.
Figure 1 classifies major threats to food system.
It is evident that even before COVID-19, the
food systems were under serious threats, from
poor governance to fluctuating markets,
pollution, climate change, low innovations and
technology, war and conflicts as illustrated
(Aiyar & Pingali, 2020). It was emphasized by
Eufemia and Hussein (2020), low agricultural
commodities’ prices caused by the pandemic
altered food supply chains hence disrupting food
systems. Increased food prices reduced peoples’
purchasing power, high food loss, and waste
level where commodities that could not be
delivered to consumers in time hence increasing
food insecurity rates especially in developing
countries (Eufemia & Hussein, 2020). COVID-
19 offered an opportunity to reflect on what has
been going well and the weaknesses of the
current food systems creating the urgent need to
restructure food systems. According to FAO et
al. (2019), economic threats such as rising food
prices, low-income, inefficient finance systems,
and fluctuating markets have been affecting
food systems in both developing and developed
countries. In late 2019, international agricultural
markets were affected in return affecting
production, transportation, storage, processing,
and consumption patterns all over the world.
According to Raouf et al. (2020) COVID-19 not
only did it made food systems weak but also did
shed light on areas to work on towards creating
sustainable and resilient food systems
Figure 1. Threats to food systems
Sources: Authors’ work
Building Resilient Food Systems
Building resilience of food systems has become
a topical issue giving the increment of shocks
and stressors adding risks and uncertainty to the
food systems. A resilient food system is a
system that has the capacity to withstand shocks,
absorb the effects of the shocks, and make it
easier to recover from the shocks to its normal
or even to a better state quickly (Babu & Dorosh,
2017).
According to Zimmerer and Haan (2021),
strengthening global food systems will require
an increase of informal food chain resilience
using agrobiodiversity, empowering social
groups, rural communities, and urban food
systems to ensure no one is left behind. The
disruptions triggered by the pandemic
highlighted the urgency to use agrobiodiversity
as a tool to increase the resilience of informal
food chains. Figure 2 illustrates the difference
between a resilient system and anti-resilient
systems; according to Marchese et al. (2018),
When a disturbance occurs, resilient systems are
able to absorb the shocks without suffering
much effects in comparison with anti-resilient
systems. However, when the systems are well
structured, they can recover and adapt quick and
even be better than they were before. Food
system transformation aims at ensuring people
have access to enough healthy diets, produce
using climate-friendly means, and empower
people to earn a good living from the food
systems (Gillespie et al., 2021). As illustrated in
Figure 3, nutrition, environmental goals, and
livelihoods are all interlinked towards creating a
resilient food system. According to Stefanovic
et al. (2020), a resilience system ensures food
systems are resilient to threats such as weather
extremes, climate change, pests and diseases,
and market anomalies. Ignoring the
interlinkages between the three dimensions will
produce unintended and uncompensated costs.
As the world focus on creating sustainable and
resilient food systems it is important to navigate
critical trade-offs such as food affordability,
improving nutrition, earning decent wage from
food systems and paying the true environmental
cost (OECD, 2020).
Figure 2. System resilience stages
Source: Marchese et al. (2018)
Figure 3. Food systems outcomes
Source: IFAD, 2021

148
Supporting small and medium-sized
enterprises
According to Béné (2021), agro-enterprises
were highly affected by COVID-19, low
engagement of these enterprises affected food
systems. The economic slow-down originating
from the pandemic affected small and medium-
sized enterprises heavily including disruption of
cash flow, low revenue generation, erosion of
working capital, interruption of supply chains
and loss of customers whose income was
affected due to job loss and salary reduction
(Parilla, 2021). To support these enterprises led
by women, youths, fishers, family farmers, and
indigenous peoples, it is important to reflect on
policies that were implemented before, their
effectiveness, and what they have managed to
achieve. This will enable not only to help in
recovering from COVID-19 losses but also to
empower small-and-medium-sized enterprises.
Depending on countries, from region to region,
support can be offered in terms of improving
infrastructures, provision of subsidies, policies
to create a business conducive environment,
access to new markets, and training. Zahra and
Gooyabadi (2021), insists on the importance of
small businesses developing strategic resilience
framework that will help them to continue
thriving even during economic shocks.
Strengthening international markets
COVID-19 pandemic showed how weak the
international markets are weak and the need to
strengthen them. The restrictions imposed from
one country to another disrupted food demand
and supply (UN, 2021). This led to high food
surplus in some areas which caused low food
prices affecting producers’ profitability margin
whereas, in areas with surplus demand, food
prices increase and most poor people, especially
in developing countries, could not afford quality
meals, this accelerating food insecurity state
globally. According to Popescu (2021), while
countries focus on their COVID-19 recovery
plans, it is important that they strengthen their
international markets and set policies that will
allow the movement of agricultural products
even in times of crisis such as the pandemic.
Technological innovations
Before COVID-19, the world had not fully
realized how technology is as important in the
agricultural sector as it is in other sectors (Fan &
Gao, 2020). A case conducted in China by Fan
et al. (2021) revealed that increased investments
in rural information and communication
technology helped small-scale farmers to obtain
the latest markets information, order agricultural
inputs using e-commerce platforms, and also be
able to market their products using the same. To
build resilient food systems, it is important to
integrate digital technology within agriculture.
Technology adoption will help to create food
systems that will be resilient to climate change,
increase productivity, lower production costs
and increase producers’ income. Béné (2021)
highlights that most developed countries such as
Japan, Finland, Denmark and the United States
have been able to produce drought-resistant crop
varieties, and pest and disease-resistant crop
varieties. For the world to achieve resilient and
sustainable food systems, crops that production
need to be climate-friendly varieties and also be
able to withstand harsh climatic conditions such
as droughts. According to OECD (2020), with
the rise of climate change-conscious initiatives,
many governments have been adopting
technologies to help food systems adapt to
environmental changes such as flood safeguards
technologies, weather forecasts, satellites, and
sensors, water purification processes, and
modern irrigation systems. As countries work
towards rebuilding their food systems, it is
important to integrate technological innovations
to help in building better food systems.
Promoting shorter and more diversified food
value chains
Agricultural products are perishable products.
Product losses may occur during transportation.
Furthermore, COVID-19 has disrupted the
transportation industry and products have not
been delivered on time to consumers or
manufacturers in both local and international
markets. (Ayanlade & Radeny, 2020). Most
people couldn’t meet their nutrition needs due to
some food products that were not available in
their area hence increasing the food insecurity
rate. The IPES report “From Uniformity to
Diversity” (2016) championed the
transformation from industrial agriculture to
diversified agro-ecological systems to help
strengthen food systems to pave a way for diets
diversification and withstand environmental
stress. Report hasn’t been fully implemented,
the current food systems are not agro-ecological
and there is minimum diversification, as plans to
recover from COVID-19 continue, it is
important to focus on establishing more agro-
ecological and diversified food systems (IPES,
2016). According to the UN Decade of Action
on Nutrition Report’s (2016-2025), action area
1 (Sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy
diets), emphasizes the need to increase food
diversification by increasing productivity,
availability, accessibility, and affordability of
cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and animal-
sourced foods (UN, 2021). Diets diversification
will improve food systems resilience and also
food and nutrition security.
Supporting small-scale farmers and rural
women
Small-scale farmers contribute to more than
70% of the world's food supply. Small-scale
farmers and rural women are key players in the
agricultural sector and guardians of household
food security (FAO, 2021). If the world is to
achieve sustainable and resilient food systems, it
is important to support them. The IFAD’S Rural
Development Report 2021, spearheaded the
importance to transform food systems for rural
prosperity, calling for rebalancing markets and
trade regulations that will empower small-scale
farmers not only to increase productivity but
also to improve their living standards. Protecting
and supporting food systems' works in informal
and formal sectors will ensure they are all cared
for in case of future pandemics or any kind of
shocks to food systems (O’Donnell et al., 2021).
To achieve food security, Celine et al. (2020)
highlights the importance of supporting and
empowering small-scale farmers and rural
women to help to increase their productivity,
marketing, ease in purchasing inputs, and
increase their income. Empowering rural
women and small-scale farmers will increase
food system resilience.
Various actions need to be taken to create sustai-
nable and resilient food systems, attract youth to
the agricultural sector and empower women:
i. Implementing land policies that allow
youths and women to own land
ii. Targeted policies to support youths and
women in agribusiness- this will
increase efficiency in the food systems.
iii. Public investments such as modern
irrigation systems, information and
communication systems, inputs
subsidies and contract farming will help
increase productivity and change
farming to be viewed as a viable
business (Bruin et al., 2021).
iv. Capacity-building programs for youth
and women to empower them to increase
their productivity and earn good revenue
from food systems.
v. Investing in good education systems to
train youths and women to run
agribusiness and ways to adapt to shocks
and stressors to food systems.
FOOD SECURITY
Food security occurs when all people have
physical, social, and economic access to quality,
adequate, safe, and nutritious food that meets
their dietary needs and food preferences (FAO,
2002). To further expound on food security, in
2009, FAO added the dimension of stability to
the definition of food security; The concept of
stability states that to achieve complete food
security, food systems must be capable of
withstanding natural and man-made threats
(FAO, 2009). Stability deals with the ability of
the food systems to withstand threats and shocks
whether caused by natural disasters such as
earthquakes, climate change, floods or man-
made such as wars, and economic crises. In the
2009 World Summit, the “four pillars of food
security” concept was introduced to represent
food security dimensions. The four pillars are;
food availability, accessibility, utilization, and
stability (FAO, 2009). As indicated in Figure 4,
food security cannot be achieved if one of the
pillars is not adequately present. All the four
pillars are linked together equally and
dependently. Further developments included
sustainability as the fifth pillar of the food
security dimensions (Berry et al., 2015).
The sustainability pillar is a long-term
dimension used to assess food security state for
the current generation and the ability of future
generations to provide for their needs.
Sustainability in food systems focuses on
achieving food security using climate-smart
approaches that are environmentally friendly
without risking the ability of future generations

149
Supporting small and medium-sized
enterprises
According to Béné (2021), agro-enterprises
were highly affected by COVID-19, low
engagement of these enterprises affected food
systems. The economic slow-down originating
from the pandemic affected small and medium-
sized enterprises heavily including disruption of
cash flow, low revenue generation, erosion of
working capital, interruption of supply chains
and loss of customers whose income was
affected due to job loss and salary reduction
(Parilla, 2021). To support these enterprises led
by women, youths, fishers, family farmers, and
indigenous peoples, it is important to reflect on
policies that were implemented before, their
effectiveness, and what they have managed to
achieve. This will enable not only to help in
recovering from COVID-19 losses but also to
empower small-and-medium-sized enterprises.
Depending on countries, from region to region,
support can be offered in terms of improving
infrastructures, provision of subsidies, policies
to create a business conducive environment,
access to new markets, and training. Zahra and
Gooyabadi (2021), insists on the importance of
small businesses developing strategic resilience
framework that will help them to continue
thriving even during economic shocks.
Strengthening international markets
COVID-19 pandemic showed how weak the
international markets are weak and the need to
strengthen them. The restrictions imposed from
one country to another disrupted food demand
and supply (UN, 2021). This led to high food
surplus in some areas which caused low food
prices affecting producers’ profitability margin
whereas, in areas with surplus demand, food
prices increase and most poor people, especially
in developing countries, could not afford quality
meals, this accelerating food insecurity state
globally. According to Popescu (2021), while
countries focus on their COVID-19 recovery
plans, it is important that they strengthen their
international markets and set policies that will
allow the movement of agricultural products
even in times of crisis such as the pandemic.
Technological innovations
Before COVID-19, the world had not fully
realized how technology is as important in the
agricultural sector as it is in other sectors (Fan &
Gao, 2020). A case conducted in China by Fan
et al. (2021) revealed that increased investments
in rural information and communication
technology helped small-scale farmers to obtain
the latest markets information, order agricultural
inputs using e-commerce platforms, and also be
able to market their products using the same. To
build resilient food systems, it is important to
integrate digital technology within agriculture.
Technology adoption will help to create food
systems that will be resilient to climate change,
increase productivity, lower production costs
and increase producers’ income. Béné (2021)
highlights that most developed countries such as
Japan, Finland, Denmark and the United States
have been able to produce drought-resistant crop
varieties, and pest and disease-resistant crop
varieties. For the world to achieve resilient and
sustainable food systems, crops that production
need to be climate-friendly varieties and also be
able to withstand harsh climatic conditions such
as droughts. According to OECD (2020), with
the rise of climate change-conscious initiatives,
many governments have been adopting
technologies to help food systems adapt to
environmental changes such as flood safeguards
technologies, weather forecasts, satellites, and
sensors, water purification processes, and
modern irrigation systems. As countries work
towards rebuilding their food systems, it is
important to integrate technological innovations
to help in building better food systems.
Promoting shorter and more diversified food
value chains
Agricultural products are perishable products.
Product losses may occur during transportation.
Furthermore, COVID-19 has disrupted the
transportation industry and products have not
been delivered on time to consumers or
manufacturers in both local and international
markets. (Ayanlade & Radeny, 2020). Most
people couldn’t meet their nutrition needs due to
some food products that were not available in
their area hence increasing the food insecurity
rate. The IPES report “From Uniformity to
Diversity” (2016) championed the
transformation from industrial agriculture to
diversified agro-ecological systems to help
strengthen food systems to pave a way for diets
diversification and withstand environmental
stress. Report hasn’t been fully implemented,
the current food systems are not agro-ecological
and there is minimum diversification, as plans to
recover from COVID-19 continue, it is
important to focus on establishing more agro-
ecological and diversified food systems (IPES,
2016). According to the UN Decade of Action
on Nutrition Report’s (2016-2025), action area
1 (Sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy
diets), emphasizes the need to increase food
diversification by increasing productivity,
availability, accessibility, and affordability of
cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and animal-
sourced foods (UN, 2021). Diets diversification
will improve food systems resilience and also
food and nutrition security.
Supporting small-scale farmers and rural
women
Small-scale farmers contribute to more than
70% of the world's food supply. Small-scale
farmers and rural women are key players in the
agricultural sector and guardians of household
food security (FAO, 2021). If the world is to
achieve sustainable and resilient food systems, it
is important to support them. The IFAD’S Rural
Development Report 2021, spearheaded the
importance to transform food systems for rural
prosperity, calling for rebalancing markets and
trade regulations that will empower small-scale
farmers not only to increase productivity but
also to improve their living standards. Protecting
and supporting food systems' works in informal
and formal sectors will ensure they are all cared
for in case of future pandemics or any kind of
shocks to food systems (O’Donnell et al., 2021).
To achieve food security, Celine et al. (2020)
highlights the importance of supporting and
empowering small-scale farmers and rural
women to help to increase their productivity,
marketing, ease in purchasing inputs, and
increase their income. Empowering rural
women and small-scale farmers will increase
food system resilience.
Various actions need to be taken to create sustai-
nable and resilient food systems, attract youth to
the agricultural sector and empower women:
i. Implementing land policies that allow
youths and women to own land
ii. Targeted policies to support youths and
women in agribusiness- this will
increase efficiency in the food systems.
iii. Public investments such as modern
irrigation systems, information and
communication systems, inputs
subsidies and contract farming will help
increase productivity and change
farming to be viewed as a viable
business (Bruin et al., 2021).
iv. Capacity-building programs for youth
and women to empower them to increase
their productivity and earn good revenue
from food systems.
v. Investing in good education systems to
train youths and women to run
agribusiness and ways to adapt to shocks
and stressors to food systems.
FOOD SECURITY
Food security occurs when all people have
physical, social, and economic access to quality,
adequate, safe, and nutritious food that meets
their dietary needs and food preferences (FAO,
2002). To further expound on food security, in
2009, FAO added the dimension of stability to
the definition of food security; The concept of
stability states that to achieve complete food
security, food systems must be capable of
withstanding natural and man-made threats
(FAO, 2009). Stability deals with the ability of
the food systems to withstand threats and shocks
whether caused by natural disasters such as
earthquakes, climate change, floods or man-
made such as wars, and economic crises. In the
2009 World Summit, the “four pillars of food
security” concept was introduced to represent
food security dimensions. The four pillars are;
food availability, accessibility, utilization, and
stability (FAO, 2009). As indicated in Figure 4,
food security cannot be achieved if one of the
pillars is not adequately present. All the four
pillars are linked together equally and
dependently. Further developments included
sustainability as the fifth pillar of the food
security dimensions (Berry et al., 2015).
The sustainability pillar is a long-term
dimension used to assess food security state for
the current generation and the ability of future
generations to provide for their needs.
Sustainability in food systems focuses on
achieving food security using climate-smart
approaches that are environmentally friendly
without risking the ability of future generations

150
to cater for their needs (Franco and Cicatiello,
2019). The sustainability pillar emphasizes on
the production of diets that are protective and
respect the biodiversity and ecosystems, that are
accessible, culturally acceptable, affordable,
economically fair, safe, healthy, and nutritious
while protecting human and natural resources
for future generations (HLPE, 2020).
Food insecurity occurs if/when one of the food
security pillars is inadequate or unavailable
(FAO, 2009). According to Martinez (2021),
food insecurity occurs in many forms but the
common way is when people have no or limited
access to adequate, high-quality, and safe and
nutritious food, or the ability to acquire
culturally acceptable food. Globally, especially
in developing countries, food insecurity rates
have been increasing. Prior to the outbreak of
the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity was
still a worldwide problem that different
organizations and nations have been trying to
fight against. According to Adjei, (2021),
climate change is a rising threat to agricultural
system and food security, global warming has
been affecting agricultural productivity, and
destroying products through natural disasters
such as floods and droughts (Fróna et al., 2021).
War and conflict have been noticed to be a huge
threat to food security, in countries like Yemen,
South Sudan, and Somalia, leading to increased
malnutrition rates thus increasing food
insecurity (Serraj & Pingali, 2018). Aging
farmers, youths detachment from the
agricultural sector, unstable markets, unfair
markets, and food loss and waste have been
highlighted as major threats to food security
mostly in developing countries by FAO, IFAD,
UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2021). Figure 5
highlights major threats to food security and
food systems, the threats have led to an
increment of undernourished people all over the
world especially during the COVID-19 period.
Figure 4. Food Security Dimensions
Source: Authors’ work
In 2019 before the pandemic the world had over
650.3 million undernourished people as
indicated in Table 2. In 2020, there were over
768 million people who were food insecure
globally, recording an increment of 18.10% as a
result of COVID-19 effects on the food systems.
Table 2 shows the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic on the global food security state.
COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation,
having more than 117.7 million food-insecure
people since the its outbreak. Asia is the home
of the most food-insecure people in the world
followed by Africa. However, in terms of food
insecure population to total population ratio,
Africa host the highest number of
undernourished people worldwide (FAO,
UNICEF, IFAD, WFP and WHO, 2021). Table
2 indicates that Latin America was highly
affected by COVID-19 with a 34.8% increase of
undernourished people, the Caribbean recording
the lowest change of undernourished people
with a 2.9% increment as shown in Table 2.
Figure 5. Major threats to food security and food systems
Sources: Authors’ work
Table 2. Number of Undernourished People in the World, 2005-2020
Number of undernourished (millions)
Difference
between
from 2019
to 2020
%
Increase
from 2019
to 2020
2005
2010
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
WORLD
810.7
636.8
615.1
619.6
615.0
633.4
650.3
768.0
117.7
18.1
AFRICA
195.0
187.4
199.7
212.0
212.3
227.1
235.3
281.6
46.3
19.7
Northern Africa
15.8
14.8
13.6
14.2
15.0
15.1
15.5
17.4
1.9
12.3
Sub- Saharan
Africa
179.2
172.6
186.1
197.8
197.3
212.00
219.8
264.2
44.4
20.2
ASIA
553.6
400.1
369.9
356.1
352.1
354.6
361.3
418
56.7
15.7
Central Asia
6.2
2.7
2
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.6
0.4
18.2
Eastern Asia
106
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
Southeastern Asia
97
69
52.7
49.9
48.1
45.3
46
48.8
2.8
6.1
Southern Asia
325.9
267.9
256.9
243.8
243.8
247.6
255.2
305.7
50.5
19.8
Western Asia
18.5
21.1
37
39.3
38.6
38.9
39.8
42.3
2.5
6.3
LATINAMERICA
AND THE
CARIBBEAN
51.9
40.7
36.4
42.9
42.2
43.7
45.9
59.7
13.8
30.1
Caribbean
7.6
6.5
6.5
6.6
6.6
6.9
6.8
7
0.2
2.9
Latin America
44.3
34.2
29.9
36.3
35.7
36.7
39.1
52.7
13.6
34.8
OCEANIA
2.3
1.9
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.6
2.6
2.7
0.1
3.85
Sources: FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2021. n. r = not reported
Sustainable Development Goals in relation to
food security
The 17 SDGs are all integrated, an action taken
towards achieving one goal will have either
direct or indirect effect in other areas. The
SDG2 “End hunger, achieve food security and
improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture” recognizes the interlinkages and
their potential to achieve SDGs by 2030. Issues
such as Supporting sustainable agriculture,
promoting gender equality, empowering small
farmers, ending rural poverty (SDG1), ensuring
healthy lifestyles (SDG3), tackling climate
change, justice, and other issues are inclusive
within the set of 17 SDGs in the Post-2015
Development Agenda (CIGI, 2012). The 2030

151
to cater for their needs (Franco and Cicatiello,
2019). The sustainability pillar emphasizes on
the production of diets that are protective and
respect the biodiversity and ecosystems, that are
accessible, culturally acceptable, affordable,
economically fair, safe, healthy, and nutritious
while protecting human and natural resources
for future generations (HLPE, 2020).
Food insecurity occurs if/when one of the food
security pillars is inadequate or unavailable
(FAO, 2009). According to Martinez (2021),
food insecurity occurs in many forms but the
common way is when people have no or limited
access to adequate, high-quality, and safe and
nutritious food, or the ability to acquire
culturally acceptable food. Globally, especially
in developing countries, food insecurity rates
have been increasing. Prior to the outbreak of
the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity was
still a worldwide problem that different
organizations and nations have been trying to
fight against. According to Adjei, (2021),
climate change is a rising threat to agricultural
system and food security, global warming has
been affecting agricultural productivity, and
destroying products through natural disasters
such as floods and droughts (Fróna et al., 2021).
War and conflict have been noticed to be a huge
threat to food security, in countries like Yemen,
South Sudan, and Somalia, leading to increased
malnutrition rates thus increasing food
insecurity (Serraj & Pingali, 2018). Aging
farmers, youths detachment from the
agricultural sector, unstable markets, unfair
markets, and food loss and waste have been
highlighted as major threats to food security
mostly in developing countries by FAO, IFAD,
UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2021). Figure 5
highlights major threats to food security and
food systems, the threats have led to an
increment of undernourished people all over the
world especially during the COVID-19 period.
Figure 4. Food Security Dimensions
Source: Authors’ work
In 2019 before the pandemic the world had over
650.3 million undernourished people as
indicated in Table 2. In 2020, there were over
768 million people who were food insecure
globally, recording an increment of 18.10% as a
result of COVID-19 effects on the food systems.
Table 2 shows the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic on the global food security state.
COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation,
having more than 117.7 million food-insecure
people since the its outbreak. Asia is the home
of the most food-insecure people in the world
followed by Africa. However, in terms of food
insecure population to total population ratio,
Africa host the highest number of
undernourished people worldwide (FAO,
UNICEF, IFAD, WFP and WHO, 2021). Table
2 indicates that Latin America was highly
affected by COVID-19 with a 34.8% increase of
undernourished people, the Caribbean recording
the lowest change of undernourished people
with a 2.9% increment as shown in Table 2.
Figure 5. Major threats to food security and food systems
Sources: Authors’ work
Table 2. Number of Undernourished People in the World, 2005-2020
Number of undernourished (millions)
Difference
between
from 2019
to 2020
%
Increase
from 2019
to 2020
2005
2010
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
WORLD
810.7
636.8
615.1
619.6
615.0
633.4
650.3
768.0
117.7
18.1
AFRICA
195.0
187.4
199.7
212.0
212.3
227.1
235.3
281.6
46.3
19.7
Northern Africa
15.8
14.8
13.6
14.2
15.0
15.1
15.5
17.4
1.9
12.3
Sub- Saharan
Africa
179.2
172.6
186.1
197.8
197.3
212.00
219.8
264.2
44.4
20.2
ASIA
553.6
400.1
369.9
356.1
352.1
354.6
361.3
418
56.7
15.7
Central Asia
6.2
2.7
2
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.6
0.4
18.2
Eastern Asia
106
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
n.r
Southeastern Asia
97
69
52.7
49.9
48.1
45.3
46
48.8
2.8
6.1
Southern Asia
325.9
267.9
256.9
243.8
243.8
247.6
255.2
305.7
50.5
19.8
Western Asia
18.5
21.1
37
39.3
38.6
38.9
39.8
42.3
2.5
6.3
LATINAMERICA
AND THE
CARIBBEAN
51.9
40.7
36.4
42.9
42.2
43.7
45.9
59.7
13.8
30.1
Caribbean
7.6
6.5
6.5
6.6
6.6
6.9
6.8
7
0.2
2.9
Latin America
44.3
34.2
29.9
36.3
35.7
36.7
39.1
52.7
13.6
34.8
OCEANIA
2.3
1.9
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.6
2.6
2.7
0.1
3.85
Sources: FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2021. n. r = not reported
Sustainable Development Goals in relation to
food security
The 17 SDGs are all integrated, an action taken
towards achieving one goal will have either
direct or indirect effect in other areas. The
SDG2 “End hunger, achieve food security and
improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture” recognizes the interlinkages and
their potential to achieve SDGs by 2030. Issues
such as Supporting sustainable agriculture,
promoting gender equality, empowering small
farmers, ending rural poverty (SDG1), ensuring
healthy lifestyles (SDG3), tackling climate
change, justice, and other issues are inclusive
within the set of 17 SDGs in the Post-2015
Development Agenda (CIGI, 2012). The 2030

152
Agenda for Sustainable Development has been
promoting sustainable agricultural systems that
are more productive, effective, environmentally
friendly, and less wasteful. Land, water, healthy
soils, and plant genetic resources are key inputs
in food production, however, their growing
scarcity in many parts of the world threatens
global food security and food systems resilience
(Brooks & Jonathan, 2016).
The 17 SDGs have either direct or indirect
contributions to achieving a food secure world.
Figure 6 classifies SDGs linkage to Food
Security. The United Nations country members
need to evaluate how far they have moved
towards achieving SDGs. Though most
countries especially developing countries were
off track to achieving SDGs, COVID-19
worsened the situation making it even harder
(Nubi & Anderson, 2021). Figure 6, illustrates
the importance of working toward achieving all
SDGs as they are all linked to food security
either directly or indirectly. Achieving SDGs
means the world would will have achieved food
and nutrition security, resilient and sustainable
food systems. During UN Food Systems
Summit 2021, it was made clear that more is
needed to build sustainable and resilient food
systems in line with achieving a food secure
world by 2030 (Gliessman & De Wit
Montenegro, 2021).
Roadmap to Achieving a Food Secure World
by 2030
Globally, there are over 750 million food-
insecure people. Given the rapidly growing
population, climate change concerns, resource
constraints, and the COVID-19 pandemic
effects, the situation is expected to get worse if
effective actions are not taken. The COVID-19
not only did it affect food systems and increased
global food insecurity rate, but also shed the
light on the urgency to create sustainable and
resilient food systems, and the importance to
work together towards achieving a food secure
world by 2030. To add to the strategies different
countries have been implementing toward
achieving SDGs by 2030, below is a roadmap to
achieving a food-secure world recommended to
mostly in developing countries.
Figure 6. Sustainable Development Goals Linkage to Food Security
Sources; Authors’ classification
i. Sustainable agricultural practices and
resource use
To increase agricultural productivity and protect
the environment at the same time, sustainable
agricultural practices such as mixed cropping,
crop rotation, using bio-fertilizers, limiting
pesticides and fertilizers use, integrated pest
management, and agroecology systems must be
encouraged and promoted. Increased production
means more food to the food-insecure
population and also time improving the
profitability of small-scale farmers (Piñeiro et
al., 2021). According to (Ehiakpor et al., 2021)
higher profitability in food systems’ activities
will encourage more youths to participate in
agricultural-related systems. Effective food
systems not only will lead to a food-secure
world by 2030 but also reduce the youth
unemployment rate and empower rural women.
To fight climate change's effects on food
systems, adoption of irrigation systems, climate
smart agricultural practices and climate-
resistant crops will ensure production continuity
even during harsh climate conditions (Kabubo-
Mariara & Mulwa, 2019).
ii. Rethinking agricultural subsidies
Governments all over the world offer
agricultural subsidies in the effort to fight
against food and nutrition insecurity, empower
small-scale farmers to increase productivity, and
improve agricultural trades. The COVID-19
pandemic exposed how little these subsidies
have achieved to achieving sustainable and
resilient food systems, and in the effort to
provide food security (Ding, 2021). As countries
work on plans to improve their food systems and
ensure food security by 2030, they should
reconsider which subsidies are working and
which are not. According to Sucker (2021),
Rethinking subsidies will help in calculating
trade-offs to know areas to focus on, change
subsidies allocation approach, and determine the
people and the sectors in urgent need of these
subsidies. Monitoring and analyzing the effects
of previously implemented agricultural policies
will assist decision makers in designing more
effective policies that will lead to a positive
transformation in food systems (Pernechele et
al., 2021).
iii. Enhance social security
Currently more than half of the world’s
population and more than 75% of the world’s
poor population live in rural areas. The
inequalities between rural areas and urban areas
continue to widen (ILO, 2020). Implementation
of social protection policies is a key way of
addressing poverty and vulnerability faced by
people dwelling in rural areas. To achieve a
food-secure world by 2030, the United Nations
during Food Systems Summit started a
campaign “leaving no one behind” aiming at
ensuring even the vulnerable groups are not left
behind and have access to adequate nutritious
food.
Initiatives such as subsidies, credits, inputs and
disaster relief funds, micro-insurance for crops,
contract farming, supporting rural people, and
empowering women can be used to boost social
protection (ILO, 2020). Also, social protection
can be provided by ensuring that vulnerable
groups have access to quality services and
infrastructures. COVID-19 pandemic has shown
how social protection is very important for
protecting lives and livelihoods. To reduce the
COVID-19 pandemic effects on vulnerable
groups, nearly 1,600 social protection measures
have been adopted worldwide (ILO and FAO,
2021). Measures included cash transfers to
vulnerable people, improving social insurance
benefits such as unemployment and sickness
benefits, food relief, and free medical services.
The dramatic increase in social protection
during the pandemic is a step in the right
direction towards achieving a food-secure
world. All people, small-scale farmers, rural
women, youths, and disabled people need to be
empowered towards living a good life.
Therefore, it is essential to increase efforts to
expand social protection that integrate rural and
urban areas; improving health, access to
education, access to quality food, good
infrastructures and human rights, and create
opportunities in both agriculture and off-farm
activities (ILO, 2020; FAO, 2020).
iv. Accelerating inter-regional trade
COVID- 19 pandemic showed the importance of
having effective international trades to allow
easier flow of goods and raw materials. The
COVID-19 crisis has accelerated awareness of
the urgent need to increase inter-regional trades
and implement policies that will ease the
movement of goods and raw materials from one
country to another (Swinnen & Vos, 2021).
Economic recovery from the harms caused by
the COVID-19 pandemic is very essential, but
not just any economic recovery but a
transformative recovery that is more inclusive,
and puts all regions on a sustainable path by
integrating international trades. Accelerating
inter-regional trade will help to achieve SDG8,
thus decent work and economic growth globally
(Walker et al., 2019). According to Ihle et al.
(2020), increasing regional trades will help food
systems to adapt quickly in case of demand and
supply shocks during an economic recession,
natural disasters, and pandemics. Bans on
imports and exports should be avoided by all
means, allowing the movement of goods, by

153
Agenda for Sustainable Development has been
promoting sustainable agricultural systems that
are more productive, effective, environmentally
friendly, and less wasteful. Land, water, healthy
soils, and plant genetic resources are key inputs
in food production, however, their growing
scarcity in many parts of the world threatens
global food security and food systems resilience
(Brooks & Jonathan, 2016).
The 17 SDGs have either direct or indirect
contributions to achieving a food secure world.
Figure 6 classifies SDGs linkage to Food
Security. The United Nations country members
need to evaluate how far they have moved
towards achieving SDGs. Though most
countries especially developing countries were
off track to achieving SDGs, COVID-19
worsened the situation making it even harder
(Nubi & Anderson, 2021). Figure 6, illustrates
the importance of working toward achieving all
SDGs as they are all linked to food security
either directly or indirectly. Achieving SDGs
means the world would will have achieved food
and nutrition security, resilient and sustainable
food systems. During UN Food Systems
Summit 2021, it was made clear that more is
needed to build sustainable and resilient food
systems in line with achieving a food secure
world by 2030 (Gliessman & De Wit
Montenegro, 2021).
Roadmap to Achieving a Food Secure World
by 2030
Globally, there are over 750 million food-
insecure people. Given the rapidly growing
population, climate change concerns, resource
constraints, and the COVID-19 pandemic
effects, the situation is expected to get worse if
effective actions are not taken. The COVID-19
not only did it affect food systems and increased
global food insecurity rate, but also shed the
light on the urgency to create sustainable and
resilient food systems, and the importance to
work together towards achieving a food secure
world by 2030. To add to the strategies different
countries have been implementing toward
achieving SDGs by 2030, below is a roadmap to
achieving a food-secure world recommended to
mostly in developing countries.
Figure 6. Sustainable Development Goals Linkage to Food Security
Sources; Authors’ classification
i. Sustainable agricultural practices and
resource use
To increase agricultural productivity and protect
the environment at the same time, sustainable
agricultural practices such as mixed cropping,
crop rotation, using bio-fertilizers, limiting
pesticides and fertilizers use, integrated pest
management, and agroecology systems must be
encouraged and promoted. Increased production
means more food to the food-insecure
population and also time improving the
profitability of small-scale farmers (Piñeiro et
al., 2021). According to (Ehiakpor et al., 2021)
higher profitability in food systems’ activities
will encourage more youths to participate in
agricultural-related systems. Effective food
systems not only will lead to a food-secure
world by 2030 but also reduce the youth
unemployment rate and empower rural women.
To fight climate change's effects on food
systems, adoption of irrigation systems, climate
smart agricultural practices and climate-
resistant crops will ensure production continuity
even during harsh climate conditions (Kabubo-
Mariara & Mulwa, 2019).
ii. Rethinking agricultural subsidies
Governments all over the world offer
agricultural subsidies in the effort to fight
against food and nutrition insecurity, empower
small-scale farmers to increase productivity, and
improve agricultural trades. The COVID-19
pandemic exposed how little these subsidies
have achieved to achieving sustainable and
resilient food systems, and in the effort to
provide food security (Ding, 2021). As countries
work on plans to improve their food systems and
ensure food security by 2030, they should
reconsider which subsidies are working and
which are not. According to Sucker (2021),
Rethinking subsidies will help in calculating
trade-offs to know areas to focus on, change
subsidies allocation approach, and determine the
people and the sectors in urgent need of these
subsidies. Monitoring and analyzing the effects
of previously implemented agricultural policies
will assist decision makers in designing more
effective policies that will lead to a positive
transformation in food systems (Pernechele et
al., 2021).
iii. Enhance social security
Currently more than half of the world’s
population and more than 75% of the world’s
poor population live in rural areas. The
inequalities between rural areas and urban areas
continue to widen (ILO, 2020). Implementation
of social protection policies is a key way of
addressing poverty and vulnerability faced by
people dwelling in rural areas. To achieve a
food-secure world by 2030, the United Nations
during Food Systems Summit started a
campaign “leaving no one behind” aiming at
ensuring even the vulnerable groups are not left
behind and have access to adequate nutritious
food.
Initiatives such as subsidies, credits, inputs and
disaster relief funds, micro-insurance for crops,
contract farming, supporting rural people, and
empowering women can be used to boost social
protection (ILO, 2020). Also, social protection
can be provided by ensuring that vulnerable
groups have access to quality services and
infrastructures. COVID-19 pandemic has shown
how social protection is very important for
protecting lives and livelihoods. To reduce the
COVID-19 pandemic effects on vulnerable
groups, nearly 1,600 social protection measures
have been adopted worldwide (ILO and FAO,
2021). Measures included cash transfers to
vulnerable people, improving social insurance
benefits such as unemployment and sickness
benefits, food relief, and free medical services.
The dramatic increase in social protection
during the pandemic is a step in the right
direction towards achieving a food-secure
world. All people, small-scale farmers, rural
women, youths, and disabled people need to be
empowered towards living a good life.
Therefore, it is essential to increase efforts to
expand social protection that integrate rural and
urban areas; improving health, access to
education, access to quality food, good
infrastructures and human rights, and create
opportunities in both agriculture and off-farm
activities (ILO, 2020; FAO, 2020).
iv. Accelerating inter-regional trade
COVID- 19 pandemic showed the importance of
having effective international trades to allow
easier flow of goods and raw materials. The
COVID-19 crisis has accelerated awareness of
the urgent need to increase inter-regional trades
and implement policies that will ease the
movement of goods and raw materials from one
country to another (Swinnen & Vos, 2021).
Economic recovery from the harms caused by
the COVID-19 pandemic is very essential, but
not just any economic recovery but a
transformative recovery that is more inclusive,
and puts all regions on a sustainable path by
integrating international trades. Accelerating
inter-regional trade will help to achieve SDG8,
thus decent work and economic growth globally
(Walker et al., 2019). According to Ihle et al.
(2020), increasing regional trades will help food
systems to adapt quickly in case of demand and
supply shocks during an economic recession,
natural disasters, and pandemics. Bans on
imports and exports should be avoided by all
means, allowing the movement of goods, by

154
following the rules and regulations by each
country.
v. Increase technology, and research and
development in the agricultural sector
The restrictions and curfews imposed as a result
of the Covid-19 Pandemic led to the
development of creativity and technology such
as accelerated digital transformation that has
changed people's perspectives on the importance
of integrating technology in the food systems.
The use of technology, improved research and
development has enabled economies to recover
better and thrive. Even after the COVID-19
pandemic, for the world to achieve SDGs and a
food-secure world by 2030, countries need to
embrace, support, and promote technology
adoption even to small-scale farmers. To
achieve sustainable and resilient food systems,
Boehlje and Langemeier (2021) emphasized the
importance of technology adoption in the
agricultural sector. Improvement of research and
innovations in the sector will help to improve
productivity, lower production costs, and
increase efficiency in production, and
development of resilient crops and animal
breeds. Governments and private organizations
should also prioritize investments in research
and development. Investments in new
technologies, research, and development will
help in increasing productivity and efficiency,
mitigating and adapting to climate change,
minimizing food loss and waste, reducing
operational costs, and facilitating food trade
(OECD, 2021).
vi. Climate Change Mitigation
Climate change is threatening all pillars of food
security and acts as a multiplier for hunger and
undernourished people. In another word, it
weakens food systems thus increasing food
insecurity state globally. Štreimikienė and
Mikalauskienė (2021), climate change increases
inequality (SDG 10) across countries
threatening not only economic growth (SDG 8)
but also acting as a poverty multiplier by
increasing the number of poor people (SDG 1).
Therefore, climate change mitigation will
contribute to achieving sustainable development
goals. World leaders have recognized the
urgency to mitigate climate change and every
country must develop policies toward this
concept if the world is to achieve food and
nutrition security. The global food systems are
contributing to about 1/3 of greenhouse gas
emissions creating an urgency to transform
conventional food systems to agro-ecology and
climate-smart food systems (UNEP, 2021). The
26th UN Climate Change Conference of the
Parties (COP26) which took place in Glasgow in
2021 urged world leaders to take actions now to
reduce emissions, mobilize funding, and boost
adaptation and resilience and fight against
climate change. According to Asadnabizadeh
(2020), some of the ways to mitigate climate
change include; using renewable energies, food
waste and loss prevention, transforming to
sustainable transportation, air pollution
prevention, waste management & recycling, sea
and ocean preservation, and adapting circular
economy.
CONCLUSIONS
The COVID-19 crisis has been threatening food
systems, food security, and nutrition of
worldwide, many of whom were already
suffering hence worsening the situation. The
rising food insecurity rate has created an urgent
need to take necessary actions if the world is to
achieve food security. The COVID-19 pandemic
multiplied threats to global food systems,
increasing their vulnerability, affecting food
systems’ actors, and compounding threats to
food security and nutrition (FSN) at the same
time exposing food systems’ weaknesses and
opportunities. As the world works towards
recovering from COVID-19 pandemic it is
important to rethink global food systems to
enhance their transformation to sustainable and
resilient food systems. Rethinking food systems
and food security in scope COVID-19 impacts
is paramount. Before the pandemic there were
major threats to food systems such as political,
economic, demographic, social-cultural,
biophysical and environmental, and
innovations, technology, and infrastructures
threats. To establish sustainable and resilient
food systems, it is important to support small-
medium enterprises, support small-scale farmers
and rural women, strengthen international
markets and trade policies, improve
infrastructures and promote shorter and more
diversified food value chains. To achieve a food-
secure world, food security pillars; food
availability, food accessibility, food utilization,
and stability have to be present in a sustainable
way in all countries. In addition to the more than
768 million people globally experiencing food
insecurity, the number of undernourished people
due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
has increased by 18.10% from 2019 to 2020.
The Covid-19 pandemic has given governments
and private organizations an important
opportunity to build sustainable food systems
that are resilient to the shocks and stressors of
times of crisis. It is important to make good use
of this opportunity.
To achieve a food-secure world by 2030 it is
recommended that all countries show support
and encourage the use of sustainable agricultural
practices, effective resources use, rethink
agricultural subsidies, accelerate inter-regional
trade, fight climate change and increase
technology adoption, research, and development
in the agricultural sector.
As future prospects, global collaborations
should be developed to ensure global and na-
tional food security in times of crisis, epidemic
and disaster, and more academic studies should
be conducted to develop risk management tools
and emergency response plans for sustainable
food security and food systems.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There was no funding involved. Both authors
contributed substantially to the research design,
data collection, data analysis, write-up and
editing of the manuscript. The submitted version
is checked and approved by both authors. The
authors confirm that there are no conflicts of
interest.
REFERENCES
Adjei, V. (2021). Climate change: Threat to agricultural
system and food security in Africa. Global Scientific
Research in Environmental Science, 1(4).
https://doi.org/10.53902/gsres.2021.01.000518
Aiyar, A., & Pingali, P. (2020). Pandemics and food
systems - towards a proactive food safety approach to
disease prevention & management. Food Sec. 12,
749–756. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01074-
3.
Asadnabizadeh, M. (2020). Status of impacts of extreme
climate events at the UN climate change conference
(COP25). The International Journal of Climate
Change: Impacts and Responses, 13(1), 1-11.
https://doi.org/10.18848/1835-7156/cgp/v13i01/1-11
Ayanlade, A., & Radeny, M. (2020). COVID-19 and food
security in Sub-Saharan Africa: implications of
lockdown during agricultural planting seasons. npj Sci
Food 4, 13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-020-
00073-0
Babu, S. C., & Dorosh, P. (2017). From Famine to Food
Security. Washington D.C.: International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI).
Balineau, G. et al. (2021). Food Systems in Africa:
Rethinking the Role of Markets. Africa Development
Forum; Washington, DC: World Bank and Agence
francaise de development. © World Bank.
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/
34919 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Berry, E. M., Dernini, S., Burlingame, B., Meybeck, A.,
Conforti, P. (2015). Food security and sustainability:
can one exist without the other? Public Health Nutr.
18(13): 2293–2302.
doi:10.1017/S136898001500021X.
Béné, C., Bakker, D., Rodriguez, M., Even, B., Melo, J.,
& Sonneveld, A. (2021). Impacts of COVID-19 on
people’s food security: Foundations for a more
resilient food system. Intl Food Policy Res Inst.
Boehlje, M. and Langemeier, M. (2021). "Importance of
New Technologies for Crop Farming." farmdoc daily
(11):32, Department of Agricultural and Consumer
Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign.
Brooks, J. (2016). Food security and the sustainable
development goals. 143-146.
https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264264687-en
Bruin, S., Dengerink, J., & van Vliet, J. (2021).
Urbanisation as driver of food system transformation
and opportunities for rural livelihoods. Food Sec. 13,
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Brooks, J. (2016). Food security and the sustainable
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Caron, P. et al. (2018). Food systems for sustainable
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Ding, R. (2021). Time to reform the non-actionable
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https://doi.org/10.19182/agritrop/00080

155
following the rules and regulations by each
country.
v. Increase technology, and research and
development in the agricultural sector
The restrictions and curfews imposed as a result
of the Covid-19 Pandemic led to the
development of creativity and technology such
as accelerated digital transformation that has
changed people's perspectives on the importance
of integrating technology in the food systems.
The use of technology, improved research and
development has enabled economies to recover
better and thrive. Even after the COVID-19
pandemic, for the world to achieve SDGs and a
food-secure world by 2030, countries need to
embrace, support, and promote technology
adoption even to small-scale farmers. To
achieve sustainable and resilient food systems,
Boehlje and Langemeier (2021) emphasized the
importance of technology adoption in the
agricultural sector. Improvement of research and
innovations in the sector will help to improve
productivity, lower production costs, and
increase efficiency in production, and
development of resilient crops and animal
breeds. Governments and private organizations
should also prioritize investments in research
and development. Investments in new
technologies, research, and development will
help in increasing productivity and efficiency,
mitigating and adapting to climate change,
minimizing food loss and waste, reducing
operational costs, and facilitating food trade
(OECD, 2021).
vi. Climate Change Mitigation
Climate change is threatening all pillars of food
security and acts as a multiplier for hunger and
undernourished people. In another word, it
weakens food systems thus increasing food
insecurity state globally. Štreimikienė and
Mikalauskienė (2021), climate change increases
inequality (SDG 10) across countries
threatening not only economic growth (SDG 8)
but also acting as a poverty multiplier by
increasing the number of poor people (SDG 1).
Therefore, climate change mitigation will
contribute to achieving sustainable development
goals. World leaders have recognized the
urgency to mitigate climate change and every
country must develop policies toward this
concept if the world is to achieve food and
nutrition security. The global food systems are
contributing to about 1/3 of greenhouse gas
emissions creating an urgency to transform
conventional food systems to agro-ecology and
climate-smart food systems (UNEP, 2021). The
26th UN Climate Change Conference of the
Parties (COP26) which took place in Glasgow in
2021 urged world leaders to take actions now to
reduce emissions, mobilize funding, and boost
adaptation and resilience and fight against
climate change. According to Asadnabizadeh
(2020), some of the ways to mitigate climate
change include; using renewable energies, food
waste and loss prevention, transforming to
sustainable transportation, air pollution
prevention, waste management & recycling, sea
and ocean preservation, and adapting circular
economy.
CONCLUSIONS
The COVID-19 crisis has been threatening food
systems, food security, and nutrition of
worldwide, many of whom were already
suffering hence worsening the situation. The
rising food insecurity rate has created an urgent
need to take necessary actions if the world is to
achieve food security. The COVID-19 pandemic
multiplied threats to global food systems,
increasing their vulnerability, affecting food
systems’ actors, and compounding threats to
food security and nutrition (FSN) at the same
time exposing food systems’ weaknesses and
opportunities. As the world works towards
recovering from COVID-19 pandemic it is
important to rethink global food systems to
enhance their transformation to sustainable and
resilient food systems. Rethinking food systems
and food security in scope COVID-19 impacts
is paramount. Before the pandemic there were
major threats to food systems such as political,
economic, demographic, social-cultural,
biophysical and environmental, and
innovations, technology, and infrastructures
threats. To establish sustainable and resilient
food systems, it is important to support small-
medium enterprises, support small-scale farmers
and rural women, strengthen international
markets and trade policies, improve
infrastructures and promote shorter and more
diversified food value chains. To achieve a food-
secure world, food security pillars; food
availability, food accessibility, food utilization,
and stability have to be present in a sustainable
way in all countries. In addition to the more than
768 million people globally experiencing food
insecurity, the number of undernourished people
due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
has increased by 18.10% from 2019 to 2020.
The Covid-19 pandemic has given governments
and private organizations an important
opportunity to build sustainable food systems
that are resilient to the shocks and stressors of
times of crisis. It is important to make good use
of this opportunity.
To achieve a food-secure world by 2030 it is
recommended that all countries show support
and encourage the use of sustainable agricultural
practices, effective resources use, rethink
agricultural subsidies, accelerate inter-regional
trade, fight climate change and increase
technology adoption, research, and development
in the agricultural sector.
As future prospects, global collaborations
should be developed to ensure global and na-
tional food security in times of crisis, epidemic
and disaster, and more academic studies should
be conducted to develop risk management tools
and emergency response plans for sustainable
food security and food systems.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There was no funding involved. Both authors
contributed substantially to the research design,
data collection, data analysis, write-up and
editing of the manuscript. The submitted version
is checked and approved by both authors. The
authors confirm that there are no conflicts of
interest.
REFERENCES
Adjei, V. (2021). Climate change: Threat to agricultural
system and food security in Africa. Global Scientific
Research in Environmental Science, 1(4).
https://doi.org/10.53902/gsres.2021.01.000518
Aiyar, A., & Pingali, P. (2020). Pandemics and food
systems - towards a proactive food safety approach to
disease prevention & management. Food Sec. 12,
749–756. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01074-
3.
Asadnabizadeh, M. (2020). Status of impacts of extreme
climate events at the UN climate change conference
(COP25). The International Journal of Climate
Change: Impacts and Responses, 13(1), 1-11.
https://doi.org/10.18848/1835-7156/cgp/v13i01/1-11
Ayanlade, A., & Radeny, M. (2020). COVID-19 and food
security in Sub-Saharan Africa: implications of
lockdown during agricultural planting seasons. npj Sci
Food 4, 13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-020-
00073-0
Babu, S. C., & Dorosh, P. (2017). From Famine to Food
Security. Washington D.C.: International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI).
Balineau, G. et al. (2021). Food Systems in Africa:
Rethinking the Role of Markets. Africa Development
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lockdowns in Nigeria: Do impacts on food insecurity
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adoption and outcomes. Intl Food Policy Res Inst.
Popescu, E. R., Semeniuc, S., Hritcu, L. D., Horhogea, C.
E., Spataru, M. C., Trus, C., ... & Chirita, R. (2021).
Cortisol and Oxytocin could predict covert Aggression
in some Psychotic patients. Medicina, 57(8), 760.
Raouf, M., Elsabbagh, D., & Wiebelt, M. (2020). Impact
of COVID-19 on the Jordanian economy: Economic
sectors, food systems, and households. Intl Food
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Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G.,
Fuller, G., & Woelm, F. (2021). Sustainable
development report 2020: The sustainable
development goals and COVID-19 includes the SDG
index and dashboards. Cambridge University Press.
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and food systems to 2050: A synthesis. World
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the 21st Century, 3-45.
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Stefanovic, L., Freytag-Leyer, B., & Kahl, J. (2020).
Food system outcomes: An overview and the
contribution to food systems transformation. Frontiers
in Sustainable Food Systems, 4.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.546167
Stephens, E. C., Martin, G., van Wijk, M., Timsina, J., &
Snow, V. (2020). Editorial: Impacts of COVID-19 on
agricultural and food systems worldwide and on
progress to the sustainable development goals.
Agricultural systems, 183, 102873.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.102873
Štreimikienė, D., & Mikalauskienė, A. (2021). Climate
change mitigation. Climate Change and Sustainable
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Sucker, F. (2021). Reflections on agricultural subsidies.
SSRN Electronic Journal.
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Swinnen, J., Vos, R. (2021). COVID-19 impacts on global
food systems and household welfare: Key insights
from the special issue. Agricultural Economics 52(3):
365-374. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12623
Walker, J., Pekmezovic, A., & Walker, G. (2019).
Sustainable development goals: Harnessing business
to achieve the SDGs through finance, technology and
law reform. John Wiley & Sons.
Zahra, G. K. and Gooyabadi, A. A. (2021). Development of
Strategic Resilience Framework for Small Businesses
PostCOVID-19. Businesses 1: 127–41.
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Targets and Indicators Special Report. The Centre for
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and nutrition: developing effective policy responses to
address the hunger and malnutrition pandemic. Rome.
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7b4bf3739b85?t=1631621451944
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and ILO approach. Geneva.
https://doi.org/10.4060/cb2332en
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19 on people’s livelihoods, their health and our food
systems. International Labor Organization.
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-
ilo/newsroom/statements-and-
speeches/WCMS_757974/lang--en/index.htm
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paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to
diversified agroecological systems. International
Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food systems.
***FAO (2002). The State of Food Insecurity in the
World 2001. Rome pp. 4-7.
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Food Security. Food Security Information for Action.
https://www.fao.org/3/al936e/al936e00.pdf
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of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021.
Transforming food systems for food security, improved
nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all. Rome,
FAO.
***FAO (2018). Sustainable food systems: concept and
framework. Brief. Rome.
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coherent policies. Working Party on Agricultural
Policies and Markets. Paris: OECD Publishing.
***OECD (2021). "COVID-19 and food systems: Short-
and long-term impacts", OECD Food, Agriculture and
Fisheries Papers, No. 166, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/69ed37bd-en.
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innovation outlook 2021 times of crisis and
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