Impact of COVID-19 on Agro-Food Industry and Transitions Towards Food Security

Abstract

Global pandemics, epidemics, and disease outbreaks have plagued humanity for ages. However, the scale and spread of pandemics and epidemics increased drastically in recent history. Currently, COVID-19 pandemic (respiratory illness) caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus ravaging fright around the world. The infectious nature of the disease affected the global and local economies and societies. Nations are forced to implement precautionary measure such as restriction of mobility to stop the spread of disease, which vastly affecting the major economic sectors including food and agricultural industry. The precautionary measures such as travel restrictions disrupt the food production, distribution, and supply chain network. The impact is widely seen on livestock and aquaculture farming, which threatens the food security and calls for immediate policy interventions from the government. This chapter investigates the challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural sector and food industry in India and determine the possible mitigation measures. The study presented the recommendation to call for government support in strengthen policies to boost agricultural sector activities to achieve transitions towards food security during and post-pandemic period.