Pandemic and Global Food Insecurity: Experience from Developing Countries

Abstract

The widespread COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the world economy unprecedently. The developed economy even shows considerable weakness in dealing with and effectively managing pandemic issues. The pandemic aftermath is also terrible for many developing countries, which will be beyond their control. With the economic fragility and weaker development planning, many developing countries may not handle the aftermath and the consequences will be deadly. Due to sudden livelihood failure and meager income opportunities, developing countries’ impoverished households will face hardship. Widespread hunger and malnutrition might be unavoidable consequences for many developing countries. This research will focus on how this pandemic can create hunger and protracted crisis in developing countries as an immediate and long-term consequence of the recent pandemic. Using real world experiences from Asia and Africa, from Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, this study explores how the current pandemic may create short-term and long-term food insecurity and hunger in developing countries.