The repercussions of the COVID-19 outbreak on food value chains through efficient logistics must be analyzed from a more comprehensive and comprehensive perspective, given that they form part of a complex interrelation of structural and conjunctural determinants whose main purpose is to guarantee at all times the right of all people to adequate and sufficient food to enable them to lead healthy lives.
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have responded to the urgency, mobilizing resources towards the attention of the health emergency, the care of sick people, the prevention of mortality and the containment of the spread of the virus; as well as adjusting the capacity of health services to meet the needs of the population and coping with the crisis of health professionals; The installed capacity of this sector was exceeded, showing the already existing difficulties and showing that it needs to be strengthened in terms of infrastructure, administration and labor guarantees for human resources; This issue cannot be relegated when addressing food value chains, because although it is true that the virus does not discriminate against the population, we are all vulnerable, there are territories where the poorest population is not only affected by the lack of food resulting from the poverty but because they are part of the infected population, as is the case of the indigenous population living on the Colombian-Brazilian border in the department of Amazonas (Colombia).
Many of the decisions made to contain the spread of the virus to protect the life and health of the population; they affect the economy not only from the factors related to supply, but also from demand. with the pandemic There was a loss of employment, mainly and immediately after the start of the pandemic in informal workers, with the drastic decrease in their income and purchasing power generating ruptures related to economic access to food that exacerbated the suffering of hunger due to the deficiency in the supply of energy and nutrients of the people who make up a home in these most vulnerable populations and that will surely increase the malnutrition figures.
The containment measures also generated interruption of food supply chains that affect physical access, and the increase in prices; border closures both local, regional and national in the countries, as well as bordering areas between them, has also prevented the entry and exit of food, affecting its availability; among other effects on food and nutritional security, showing shortages and price increases.
The greatest challenges for strengthening food value chains are found both in strengthening the rural sector and in developing consumer skills to return to healthy food purchasing and consumption practices for the individual, in harmony with the social and human development.It is the moment to potentiate the productive capacities of the rural sector to guarantee the food supply, family, peasant and community agriculture should be stimulated, through the diversified production of food, above the logic of the market, to protect the rural population and the implementation of sustainable processes with the environment, protection of forests, water, seas and ecosystems, change in fishing practices that allow food sovereignty for local self-sufficiency.
In this sense, it is necessary to work in the protection of rural populations, fishermen, peasant populations and ethnic peoples so that they can autonomously manage their food production process, with forms of agroecological production that are carried out in harmony with the environment, ecosystems, the responsible use of water, in solidarity relationships, understand food as a social process mediated by practices, own knowledge and differential relations with the territory.
It is necessary to include in the agricultural sector, public policies that promote local production models, where family, peasant and community agriculture is promoted to ensure that they are the suppliers of food for each country, giving priority to local markets with short marketing circuits. bringing the supply closer to the consumer, favoring food prices and interrupting the chains of intermediaries generating fair trade practices.
Reform in rural education is required, as an opportunity for the protection of rural peasant populations and other rural inhabitants who have traditionally been excluded and who during this pandemic have suffered from restrictions on access to education due to lack of of public services and connectivity. This implies the participative construction of pertinent contents that allow recovering the traditional practices of food production and preparation, the food culture of its inhabitants and the guarantee of educational infrastructures, public services, access to connectivity.
Likewise, the culture of self-care and self-determination in health emerge as more effective prevention measures, as well as the return to models in collective health, which allow for articulated work between health entities and communities in search of joint solutions, being essential food and nutrition education to rescue healthy eating practices, consumption of food from family and local production, favoring the consumption of naturally produced and prepared foods and less industrially processed foods.
The great challenges generated not only by the pandemic itself but also by containment measures, imply for decision makers to establish new ways of articulating for the implementation of public policies on food and nutrition security, considering the complexity of its determinants, which allow coordinate actions to guarantee adequate food for the entire population. With this panorama, the actions to address the consequences of COVID-19 on food security should consider not only conjunctural interventions to mitigate the short-term hunger generated by the containment measures, but structural proposals that contribute to recovering what Amartya Sen calls the assets and ownership of the most affected: their income, their employment.
Likewise, price control must be exercised, and social protection networks must be strengthened for the poorest and most vulnerable population. Another major challenge is the review and adjustment of the priorities and goals of the sustainable development goals to the year 2030, in which all those involved must participate, especially those related to the reduction of inequalities and inequities that have been deepened by the covid -19, represented in deficiencies in public services, deficiencies in education, decent employment and and actions aimed at recognizing the human right to food as a priority.
Prof. Mylene Rodríguez Leyton