The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting food value chains across South Asia. It is now recognized that food systems are at the nexus of food security, nutritional health, ecosystems, climate change, and rural prosperity. With countries in South Asia closing down their economies almost overnight in fighting this pandemic, the strains are showing in agriculture, farming communities, and entire food supply chains. Policy makers need to take urgent measures to avoid hunger and economic ruin. Furthermore, the action taken cannot be to reinstate business-as-usual given the impact of the once in a lifetime event that is the COVID-19 pandemic. Transformation of food systems to deliver nutritious and sustainable diets for all will be necessary especially when incomes across the region are likely to be falling over the next year.
In this timely policy brief, IRRI Regional Representative for South Asia Nafees Meah synthesizes outputs from an expert panel discussion on “ Creating Sustainable Value Chains for Transforming Food Systems .” This was conducted in February 2020, with experts from the fields of agriculture, nutrition, environment, research and development, and policy, deliberating on how to achieve food systems transformation in India and South Asia sooner rather than later.
