Three international organizations have warned of the risk of food shortages on the global market due to disturbances in international trade and food supplies due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
The ambiguity about the availability of food can cause a wave of export restrictions, which in turn may cause sever shortages on the international market of food, according Tedros Adhanum Gebriesos, General-Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Roberto Azevedo, Director of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Director UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
They issued a joint statement warning of the possible food crisis due to the deadly virus of Corona.
The three heads of the organizations expressed concern with health, food, agriculture and international trade, affirming that it is important to secure trade exchanges in order to avoid food shortages in particular.
The organizations expressed their fear, in particular, about the slowing down of the movement of workers in the agricultural and food sectors.
This impedes many western crops and causes delays in the borders of the containers of goods, which leads to wasting perishable products and increasing food waste.
The organizations urged shareholders to secure food industry production sector and those working in the agro-food manufacturing industry as well as those working in distribution with the aim of minimizing virus outbreaks in the sector and maintaining food supplies.
The directors of the three organizations added: "When the issue of protecting the health and welfare of citizens, countries should ensure that all trade measures do not disturb the food supply."
They emphasized that in such periods of time, international cooperation becomes necessary.
"We must ensure that our response to the COVID-19 epidemic does not involuntarily lead to an undue shortage of essential products and exacerbates hunger and malnutrition," they concluded.
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