Food and Water Security in Developing Economies: Impact of Pandemic and Possible Interventions

Abstract

Background: Pandemics are unexpected and unplanned events that can have serious impact on food and water security especially in countries with weak food and water systems.  Aims: This article discusses factors that could affect food and water security in developing countries and provides and provides possible solutions for mitigating food and water issues that could arise due to pandemics. Methods: Searches were made on google scholar on ‘food and water security in pandemic’ between May and October 2020 and published articles related developing countries were obtained and reviewed. Results: Factors identified include: weak ‘food routes to consumers’, lockdown and impaired logistics, poor consumer purchasing power, scarcity of water resource, unavailable water quality data and poor wastewater treatment works. Approaches to mitigate impact of these identified factors such as possibilities of harnessing available natural resources like solar energy and nature-based solutions for freshwater to help mitigate some of these identified impacts were also discussed. Conclusions: Collaboration between representatives from the local communities, government, and academics/researchers would also play a critical role in mitigating these impacts. The outcome of our article may also extend to those working directly with public groups, including those undertaking public engagement with environmental research, government policymakers, research managers and professional membership institutions.