As COVID-19 disrupts food systems around the world, a pivot to more agile and inclusive data collection and analysis is critical to avert widespread hunger, according to Cornell Global Development experts in a comment piece published Aug. 5 in Nature.
As the pandemic has unfolded with staggering speed, it has placed massive pressure on both health and food systems. The United Nations warned that COVID-19 pandemic could push upwards of 132 million people worldwide into the ranks of the undernourished.
Faculty members Jaron Porciello, Hale Ann Tufan, Edward Mabaya and Ronnie Coffman authored the commentary "Averting hunger in sub-Saharan Africa requires data and synthesis." Other co-authors include Jemimah Njuki of the International Development Research Center and Paul Winters from the University of Notre Dame.
"Building a more resilient food system relies on many things, among them agricultural data in real and near time," the authors wrote. "Such data must capture communities’ needs. Equally important is an infrastructure that can synthesize these data to help policymakers with limited resources maximize the impact of interventions and target research."
You can read the full comment piece on the Nature website.
