Is COVID-19 a moment for rebuilding the global food system? (Branwyn Poleykett )

By Branwyn Poleykett

In West Africa the COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding against the backdrop of a “food crisis of exceptional magnitude.” People with expertise in the region’s history and politics have repeatedly warned that we need to understand COVID-19 locking together with existing vulnerability and to analyse vulnerability as the cumulative effect of concurrent crises. This work analyses the relationship between the pandemic and food security in West Africa and shows how, in the face of this complex crisis, governments will have to ramp up social protection and keep the commercial chains flowing, trying to make sure that the production and circulation of food is not disrupted.