COVID-19's Disruption of India's Transformed Food Supply Chains
May 2, 2020 - Thomas Reardon , Ashok Mishra, Chandra S.R. Nuthalapati, Marc F. Bellemare, David Zilberman
Reardon, T., Mishra, A., Nuthalapati, C. S., Bellemare, M. F., & Zilberman, D. (2020). Covid-19’s disruption of india’s transformed food supply chains. Economic and Political Weekly, 55(18), 18-22.
Abstract
COVID-19 has created high transaction costs and uncertainty in India’s transformed food supply chains, putting food security at risk as 92% of food consumption in India is purchased predominantly from the private sector. Government faces the challenge of marshalling resources between mitigating the impending food crisis and containing the contagion as the risk of sociopolitical tensions looms large. It is recommended that the government concentrate on sustaining the food supply chains towards eventual rebound, recognising that government food distribution cannot replace even a tenth of the market.