The current global health crisis has disrupted the whole world creating inter-related challenges of hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity. Food systems all over the world are under huge stress. The supply chains have been disrupted, consumers are facing problems of accessing even basic food items and paying higher prices for some foods.
Sri Lanka took early actions to limit the COVID-19 imposing curfew from time to time for nearly over two months. The majority of people were under home hostage. Schools and universities were closed. Those who are working in various professions stopped reporting to offices physically and started working from home.
However, similar to many other countries, Sri Lanka wanted agriculture safely running as an essential business in the country to continue the food supply for markets and consumers. Though freedom was fully granted for the farmers to engage in their agricultural production activities irrespective of lockdown condition imposed in the country, farmers started to face various other problems for receiving agricultural inputs, fulfilling harvesting activities and postharvest preparations, transporting harvests to markets and even finding the right market for the products. Labour shortage mainly due to movement restrictions, social distancing rules, and illness started to impact producers, processors, traders, and others in supply chains. Farmers lost their regular markets and worried about harvesting their current crop and planting for the next season. Export bans and import restrictions created problems of reaching people the needed food items and paying unnecessarily for certain food items (e.g. turmeric powder). At the same time, loss of income and remittances limited people’s purchasing ability.
People who carried out small businesses earned daily wages and served in contract basis jobs in certain firms and small-scale entrepreneurs were in more economical crisis and facing serious problems of securing their families with sustainable food supply and consumption. Read more…