A webinar, co-organized by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) and Food Security Portal to examine results of several recent studies on how various food value chains are responding to COVID-19.

Date: Friday, 11 December 2020

Time: 23:00 PM – 00:00 AM (UTC+8)

The short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food systems remain uncertain, raising concerns about food security. The pandemic’s public health impacts, as well as the economic and logistical impacts of pandemic response measures such as lockdowns and travel restrictions, have the potential to disrupt food value chains around the globe. 

Such disruptions could result in labor shortages, decreased production, volatile food prices, and reduced food availability and access. Understanding how COVID-19 is affecting local and global food value chains is key in establishing effective policy responses to mitigate the harmful impacts of the ongoing public health crisis. 

Our Senior Scientist for Value Chains and Nutrition, Ben Belton, presented findings on the impact of COVID-19 on Nigeria’s fish value chains, crucial to the country’s food security and employment opportunities. In the same panel, Kalle Hirvonen (IFPRI) presented findings from a study on food consumption and food security in Ethiopia and Sudha Narayanan (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) discussed bottlenecks in food and agriculture supply chains in India.

Invited speakers: 

Kalle Hirvonen, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

Sudha Narayanan, Associate Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research

Ben Belton, Associate Professor of International Development in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, and Senior Scientist for Value Chains and Nutrition with WorldFish, Malaysia

Discussant:

Frank Place, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Moderator:

Nicholas Minot, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Division Director in the Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI. 

For more information, visit the official event page.