Disrupted Food Supply Chain

The after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are far-reaching, affecting economies and
people everywhere, but one unexpected area is food. The pandemic has disrupted food
chains worldwide, with farmers being compelled to let their produce get rotten, as
disrupting the goods is less expensive than donating in today’s time due to huge labour
costs.

At the onset of March’20, many countries had announced lockdown to curb the spread of
the virus. Lockdown ensued chaos and misinformation which led to an even bigger problem-
Food Crisis. According to a study, it is being projected that over 132 million people are going
to have this problem, which is already more than triple the increase in this century. The
study also reveals that by the end of this pandemic, people are likely to die each day from
hunger than from Covid-19.

How did the situation of food crisis occur?

As soon as the word got spread out regarding the lockdown, there was a whole lot of panic
buying and hoarding by the customers. The uncertainty of the future had led the consumers
to hoard for 2-3 months, covering the basic day to day products. Due to complete lockdown,
it was difficult for farmers and vegetable vendors to keep the supply chain running from
farm to the market, leading to a situation of shortages for consumers.
The logistics involved in getting the food on the plate is going to get hampered due to the
uncertainty revolving around the recurring opening/closing of the city. Factors pertaining to
this can be assessed as lack of air transportation as well as truck shortages, and a majority of
labourers returning to their hometown, former of which was mainly due to the restriction of
travel in and out of the state. The ripple effect of this can be seen in the increase in prices of
the staple goods due to demand as well as labour shock, which can be seen as a major
replica of the food crisis years ago.

After-Math:
  There has been a record 2 month increase in the price of wheat.
 Corn sank to a 3.5 year low as its extensive use in biofuel exposed it to an oil price
collapse.
 Thai white rice prices have already hit their highest level in eight years.

Further straw in strain is the already escalating tension with China, which has disrupted the
global food supply. There are alarming signs coming in from china, that they are building up
good supplies from various parts of the world, creating a dent, when we are already in deep
rumbles.

What does the future hold?

The uncertainty looming around us is a situation which isn’t privy to all. We all need to get
back up and innovate new ideas. With all the matters going digital on the global front, this
will be a huge opportunity to catch up on the bandwagon of digitisation. Various supply
chain techniques like blockchain can be utilised to improve the traceability of food chain,
which ensures traceability and transparency.

Another point in contention is free and open market to facilitate the supply chains, so that
that it enables smooth distribution to deeper channels in the market.