African stakeholders fear severe food chain impact from COVID-19

Stakeholders in the aquaculture sector have raised an alarm of a looming food crisis unless sound and decisive measures are taken to sustain food supply chains and to protect the poor and vulnerable communities.

They noted with dismay that COVID-19 has affected the entire value chain in the industry from pre-production, production, processing, storage, transportation, and marketing, leading to huge financial losses.

The Director-General, WorldFish, Gareth Johnstone, who spoke on how to address COVID-19 impacts on fish and aquatic food systems, identified the significant impacts and implications of the lockdown measures designed to contain its impact on public health to include-significant impacts on other domains of human activity, including food and nutrition, security, jobs, livelihoods, gender equality, and potential social unrest.

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