How to Keep Food Moving to Prevent Food Shortage and Hunger During this COVID19

Due to restrictions in movement, to reduce the pandemic of COVID 19. It can be tempting to ponder that food supplies will be deficient globally.

The fact that most grocery stores, markets, and supermarket is temporarily out of essential food supplies.

For staple food (food that is eaten routinely and in such quantities that constitute a major portion of a diet for a given people) the production prices have increased temporarily due to the pandemic. Before now the prices for food are stable since 2015.

This implies that there is enough food to go round globally that’s the major reason for the stable food market. One may ask why the problem of food shortages during the pandemic?

The actual cause here is the limitation that restricts exportation. Government regulations should be made to preserve food stability not the other way round.

With all this confusion and fear caused by COVID19 what can be done to keep the food industry moving?

We must know that local issues are one of the problems at this time as customers take measures beforehand to secure food against the risk of deficiency in the future. Thereby putting uncommon pressure on some goods and foodstuff.

Some eating establishment such as restaurants has closed up and the stoppage of some other food consumption has increased the demand for food both wholesale and retail.

Domestically, the processes involved in the production and distribution (Supply chain) have not blended with changes in the consumption pattern.

Also, the availability of food locally is affected by insufficient labor, and distribution channels are also interrupted by government regulations such as lockdown, curfew, and closure of local market pathologically caused by the pandemic COVID 19.

Read Also; COVID-19 General Impact In Nigera, The Losses And Opportunities

Due to the reduction or loss of income because of massive business closure and unemployment the population has no choice but to buy what is available in the market.

We should be worried about the purchasing power of the poor.

Additionally, countries should not forget about the restrictions on exportation. These bans worsen the situation. During the 2008 crisis, many countries in the world used restrictions on trade which led to an increase in the prices of food.

In the world today we hear complaints about an export ban but they are not yet effective on export flow and food prices.

Strategic Reserves.

Export restrictions imply that there will be food shortages mostly those imported such as rice.

Although to a great extent, Nigeria has increased the production of rice, research has shown that Nigeria still relies on the importation of rice of about 40% of rice consumption.

Exporter of rice such as India (the world’s largest exporter of rice) has stopped exportation due to lockdown and the supply chain has been interrupted.

This leads to an increase in prices. There is a drastic increase in the price of rice in Lagos and Abuja with more than 7.5% of foreign rice and more than an 8% increase in local rice.

To prevent this care should be taken in order not to make the poor suffer.

The government should put measures to reduce the impact of the coronavirus by creating ID cards to farmers, millers, marketers, and truck drivers to enable free movement in supplying food around the country.

Government should also provide financing to farmers.

Restrictions in the exportation of food are not necessary as it will cause more harm and only make worse the economic and social impact on the pandemic COVID 19.

Countries are now adjusting to these policies

How to Keep Food Moving to Prevent Food Shortage and Hunger During this COVID19

About Author

Raphael Okhueleigbe

Raphael Osas Okhueleigbe is a Blogger, Content creator, Agricultural Economist, Resource manager, and the founder of greener health.

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