During the Extraordinary G20 Agriculture Minister's Meeting on April 21, 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank, and the World Food Programme (WFP) issued a Joint Statement on COVID-19 Impacts on Food Security and Nutrition, saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has led not only to the dramatic loss of human life across the world but also presents an unprecedented challenge with deep social and economic consequences, including compromising food security and nutrition.

The FAO, IFAD, the World Bank, and WFP say that agriculture and its food-related logistic services should be considered as essential and that increased efforts are needed to ensure that food value chains function well and promote the production and availability of diversified, safe and nutritious food for all.

The Joint Statement urges countries to work together to strengthen cooperation during this pandemic that is affecting all regions of the world. It is important to ensure that policies, such as short-term measures to restrict trade, do not distort global markets. "Decisive collective action is needed now to ensure that this pandemic does not threaten food security and nutrition, and to improve resilience to future shocks." The Joint Statement ends with a call to highlights the 2021 Food Systems Summit as an opportunity to drive transformative action and contribute to the UN Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs by 2030.

Read the Statement at the FAO website.