The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2021 report

Key highlights of the report-

• The tagline of the SOFA report is Making agrifood systems more resilient to shocks and stresses.
• As per the report, Agrifood systems encompass primary agricultural production of food and non-food products (from crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry and aquaculture), the production of food of non-agricultural origin (e.g. synthetic meat), the food supply chain from producer to consumer and the final consumer of food. 
• Globally, these systems produce some 11 billion tonnes of food each year and form the backbone of many economies. 
• It said that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of agri-food systems to shocks and stresses and led to increased global food insecurity and malnutrition.
• It defines shocks as short-term events that have negative effects on a system, people’s well-being, assets, livelihoods, safety and ability to withstand future shocks. 
• It says that a disruption to critical transport links could push food prices up for some 845 million people. 
• The indicators measure the robustness of primary production and food availability, as well as physical and economic access to food. 
• It says that while low-income countries generally face much greater challenges, middle-income countries, high-income countries, such as Australia and Canada are also at risk because of the long distances involved in the distribution of food.  

• It also recommends diversification – of actors, input sources, production, markets and supply chains – to create multiple pathways for absorbing shocks. 
• It also recommends supporting the development of small and medium agrifood enterprises and cooperatives.