Beyond the pandemic: How do we feed our cities and industries- An agricultural insight

This article aims to highlight the challenges and implications of COVID-19 in the agricultural sector using current industry trends and outcomes to forecast the impact of the pandemic on agricultural value chains and consumer behaviour in the short, medium and long term.  Most importantly, however, this report proffers actionable innovations and systems that can be adopted and scaled up to negate the effects of the pandemic on food supplies to urban areas and industrial processors in Nigeria.  WHERE WE ARE NOW:  Short term (1-3months)   Disruption of supply chains due to inter and intrastate border closures. An example being the pileup of trucks on the Kano-Kaduna road due to shutdowns on what is a key route for national grain distribution.  The stock of grains does not seem to be hampered but there is a risk it will if the current situation persists for a period longer than 3-4 months. The federal government has already pulled on 70,000mt from the strategic grain reserve in response to the pandemic’s effects1 which is unsustainable, to say the least.  Key cash crops such as cocoa, ginger and perishables like tubers and vegetables are most vulnerable to the restrictive effects of COVID-19.  Restrictions have impacted consumer behaviour, especially in spending habits with less market activity and an increase in home delivery.  Farmers might not be