COVID-19 Pandemic, Climate Change, and Conflicts on Agriculture: A Trio of Challenges to Global Food Security

Devendra Paudel, Ram Chandra Neupane, Sailesh Sigdel, Pradip Poudel and Aditya R. Khanal ()
Additional contact information
Devendra Paudel: Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Ram Chandra Neupane: Department of Plant Pathology and International Agriculture and Development (INTAD), The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Sailesh Sigdel: Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Pradip Poudel: Department of Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Aditya R. Khanal: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd., Nashville, TN 37209, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: Global food security is a worldwide concern. Food insecurity is a significant threat to poverty and hunger eradication goals. Agriculture is one of the focal points in the global policy agenda. Increases in agricultural productivity through the incorporation of technological advances or expansion of cultivable land areas have been pushed forward. However, production growth has slowed in many parts of the world due to various endemic challenges, such as decreased investment in agricultural research, lack of infrastructure in rural areas, and increasing water scarcity. Climate change adversities in agriculture and food security are increasing. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected global food supply chains. Economic and social instability from the pandemic contribute to long-term disturbances. Additionally, conflicts such as war directly affect agriculture by environmental degradation, violence, and breaches of national and international trade agreements. A combination of food security and climate change challenges along with increased conflicts among nations and post-COVID-19 social and economic issues bring bigger and more serious threats to agriculture. This necessitates the strategic design of policies through multifaceted fields regarding food systems. In this comprehensive review, we explore how these three challenging factors, COVID-19, climate change, and conflicts, are interrelated, and how they affect food security. We discuss the impact of these issues on the agricultural sector, plus possible ways of preventing or overcoming such adverse effects.

Keywords: agriculture; pandemic; climate change; conflict; global; food security; zero hunger; policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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