Abstract
The global food security situation has been under threat in recent years due to factors including conflict and economic contraction, even before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. The deteriorating situation has raised questions about the functioning and resilience of our food systems, and their ability to deliver key outputs such as food security for all.
The chapter seeks to explore the fragility and resilience of our food systems in the face of shocks. By applying a food systems approach, the chapter offers a more comprehensive lens through which to understand and achieve food security.
The chapter reviews the academic and gray literature on food systems, with a focus on concepts of fragility and resilience, and then applies secondary data (quantitative and qualitative) to assess the status of our food systems prior to and within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A food systems approach allows for the clear identification of its components (food supply chains, food environments, individual level filters, and consumer behavior), a range of external drivers, and contemporary outcomes (food security, environmental, economic, and social outcomes). By applying this approach, we find some aspects of our food systems were already fragile prior to the pandemic, and the fragility has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects of the pandemic and associated lockdowns have been widespread in terms of geography and scope, with serious impacts on the performance of our food systems. Within the span of a few months, food systems were pushed to the brink of crisis. However, while many impacts were negative, some parts of the food system were resilient and even flourished via significant financial gains. Resilience of a system cannot be solely measured by its individual components. Building food systems more resilient to shocks forms an urgent priority for humanity to avoid suboptimal outcomes, particularly food insecurity. Lessons derived from the COVID-19 pandemic help explain incongruous instances of fragility and resilience, and point to measures that can limit the adverse effects of future shocks to food security. The need for a holistic rather than mechanistic approach to food systems performance, improvement, and transformation will be central to the effort.
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Notes
- 1.
“Metabolic rift refers to an ecological rupture in the metabolism of a system. The natural processes and cycles (such as the soil nutrient cycle) are interrupted. The division between town and country is a particular geographical manifestation of the metabolic rift, in regards to the soil nutrient cycle” (Clack and York 2005: 400).
- 2.
Proper sanitation in rural areas compared to urban areas (23% compared to 44%), health services (22% compared to 56%), education, broadband internet, social protection or public infrastructure, such as electricity (27% to 67%) or access to roads. Data set from the World Bank reflect this reference http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/3.13 (World Bank 3.13 2020; ILO 2019). These differences can magnify the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 (FAO 2020a).
- 3.
To date there are no global data regarding the impact of the pandemic on the food system; however, it is possible to paint a picture of those impacts by reviewing studies at communities and national levels that have been published.
- 4.
International Labor Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund of Agricultural Development, and World Health Organization
- 5.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 28 to 36 times more effective than CO2 at trap** heat in the atmosphere over a 100-year period.
- 6.
Hollings’ (1973) definition closely associates resilience with randomness, i.e., stochasticity.
- 7.
Most rural poor households, even when having access to land, livestock and/or forestry or aquaculture and natural resources, rely on diversification of sources of income to survive. Diversification includes wage labor and non-agricultural activities as well as seasonal migration that helps in netting national and international remittances (FAO 2020b).
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Zurayk, R., Yehya, A.A.K., Bahn, R.A. (2022). Fragility and Resilience in Food Systems: What Can We Learn from the COVID-19 Crisis?. In: Shaw, R., Gurtoo, A. (eds) Global Pandemic and Human Security. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5074-1_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5074-1_10
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