The Indispensable Territorial Dimension of Food Supply: A View from Brazil During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The research-activists network ‘Collective Action on Real Food’ analyzed alternative food supply initiatives formed in response and/or expanded due to the pandemic in Brazil and identified more than 260 examples. Despite this dynamism, the policy processes of the UN Food System Summit were not able to—or might not even have tried to—break the mechanisms that make such initiatives politically invisible.

Reconfiguration of Agrifood Supply Chain Management in Latin America during COVID-19: A Brief Literature Review

“…Additionally, the implementation of "short marketing circuits", the redistribution of fair points, and subsidy schemes for families and vulnerable people to solve logistical problems related to the distribution and storage of food was proposed in Chile [69]. The short SC strategy was implemented in Brazil to improve the food supply between farmers and consumers in the same locality [23]. In Colombia, the strategy used included the digitization of service delivery channels and the implementation of virtual modalities to ensure continuity in the distribution of products and services, in addition to carrying out actions to reconfigure operating models adapted to emerging needs such as the delivery of inventories of planting material and supplies to food producers; additionally, close coordination was carried out between the government and the Colombian private sector to keep SCs active and monitor the supply of raw materials and food [67].…”

“…Specifically, Latin America (LATAM), including the Caribbean, is considered a foodexporting region, responsible for 14% of the world's production of agricultural and fishery products [21]. Of the total population of LATAM, the rural population accounts for more than 30%, whose primary income comes from the production and commercialization of agrifood products, among which cereals stand out, as well as products such as coffee, sugar, and various fruits [22,23]. According to the FAO and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), before the pandemic's start, it was projected that by 2028, LATAM would double its contribution to production in the agrifood sector, growing by 28% to become the largest food exporting region in the world [24].…”

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“…They do so by establishing fairer, direct, autonomous commercial relationships between producers and consumers, while also expanding the diversity of fresh and seasonal foods. 83 Many low-income countries have, however, specialized in agriculture production for export, to the detriment of subsistence agriculture and producing food for local consumption. This has forced them to procure more foodstuffs on international markets, exposing them to higher import bills and requiring them to spend a bigger share of their foreign-exchange reserves on food purchases.…”