资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Life for ‘Jane’ as a local fish trader in Papua New Guinea has become more precarious since the COVID-19 state of emergency. “Day in and day out we have worked hard to keep going and to survive during this COVID-19 period,” she said of her situation and that of other women who trade fish from the Sepik River.

A growing body of research demonstrates that women like Jane, together with girls and other vulnerable groups, have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Put plainly, she said: “No money means no food.”

The shock of the pandemic has adversely impacted the lives and livelihoods of smallholders like Jane across the developing world. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) funded a team of 30 researchers led by The Australian National University and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation to conduct an assessment of food and nutrition security over the first six months of the COVID-19 crisis. The resulting report, COVID-19 and food systems in the Indo-Pacific: An assessment of vulnerabilities, impacts and opportunities for action was published online last week.

Read the full article on the DevPolicy blog, co-authored by Dr Roslyn Prinsley, Dr Steven Crimp, Dr Lisa Robins, and Dr Michael Bourke