What's New

Third in a series of posts on briefs by the Think20 (T20) task force on Sustainable Energy, Food, and Water Systems. T20 is a G20 engagement group that connects and collaborates with think tanks around the world to provide ideas and recommendations. The task force is one of 10 advising this year’s Saudi Arabia G20 Presidency, which just culminated in the Nov. 21-22 summit. Read the other posts here and here.

While global food systems have remained generally resilient to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, regional and local systems, especially in food-deficit countries, face growing challenges. These include diminished purchasing power, disruptions to domestic supply chains, and higher food import costs due to rising global prices, according to the latest AMIS Market Monitor. 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.

Worsening conflict in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia has disrupted food access and threatened incomes for thousands of households, according to a recent emergency alert from FEWS Net. Displaced populations, both within Tigray and in neighboring Afar and Amhara Regions and Sudan, are in need of urgent food assistance; these needs are expected to persist at least through late 2021.

Introduction

By: Fleur Wouterse and Amy Faye

Second in a series of blog posts on the release of the 2020 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) during the virtual 2020 ReSAKSS Annual Conference Nov. 3–5 . The theme of the 2020 ATOR is “Sustaining Africa’s Agrifood System Transformation: The Role of Public Policies.” This post is based on Chapter 8 . Read the first post here . This piece originally appeared on IFPRI.org .