Policy seminar: Promoting recovery and resilience for Latin America’s agrifood industry

BY ADRIANA CAMPOS, JONATHAN HEPBURN AND VALERIA PIÑEIRO

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented serious challenges for Latin American agriculture and trade—and while the agrifood industry has proved resilient, broad coordination across the hemisphere will be necessary going forward to ensure recovery. A Nov. 23 virtual policy seminar organized by IFPRI, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) explored the prospects for long-term recovery and resilience.

Latin America is the world’s principal net food exporting region and plays a key role in global food security. A key priority is aligning countries’ production schemes to include the issues of environmental sustainability and food safety. Latin America is also part of the global marketplace, and so must keep an eye on this role. It must also assess the impacts of COVID-19 in the agrifood sector and the effects of trade and protectionist tensions in recent years.