MACHINE NAME = WEB 1

Maximizing sustainable agri-food supply chain opportunities to redress COVID-19 in developing countries

The nationwide lockdowns due to the spread of COVID-19 has forced developed and developing countries to halt their economies.

With respect to its impact on the global food system, which also considers the pre-and post-production of food as well as its distribution and consumption interrelationship with political, social and environmental dimensions, this economic slowdown has greatly affected the progress towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Identifying ways to change and improve the entire food system may pose innumerable challenges, thus, as an entry point for change, thriving in sustainability in agri-food supply chain will help improve the production side of the food system.

The economies of many developing countries are based on the exploitation of agriculture that are correspondingly important in relation to their economic development.

Therefore, recovery strategies must be targeted to pursue goals that also reflects the quality of life, especially of the vulnerable stakeholders involved in agri-food supply chains in developing countries.

This paper elucidates the long-standing causes of concern caused by agri-food supply chains and how these have been aggravated by COVID-19 in developing countries.

Based on these concerns, this paper presents several recommendations on post COVID-19 provisions for sustainable agri-food supply chains, paying particular attention on the use of sustainability standards as a tool to foster transparency and traceability along the supply chain.