Rapid evidence review: Policy interventions to mitigate negative effects on poverty, agriculture and food security from disease outbreaks and other crises
What can previous shocks teach us about how to deal with the consequences of COVID-19 for agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa?
This review was commissioned to draw lessons from previous shocks (e.g. Ebola outbreak, MERS, SARS, the food price crisis of 2008/09) that may be relevant to dealing with the consequences of COVID-19 in developing countries and especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The review addresses two questions:
- What may be the consequences of disease, and responses to it, on agriculture, rural livelihoods, food systems and food security?
- What lessons on dealing with those consequences may be drawn from previous crises?
The assessment was conducted by researchers at SPARC partner ODI Global. It was supported by SPARC and the Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) programme of the Future Agricultures Consortium. You can read the report here.
Women weather the microburst in Ber'aano Woreda in Somali region of Ethiopia. Credit: UNICEF Ethiopia.