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Private sector enterprises all along food supply chains must play a central role in food system resilience and transformation; the pandemic revealed some of the sector's weaknesses and strengths that can help to build greater resilience and reach other Sustainable Development Goals. KEY MESSAGES - The pandemic disrupted food supply chains through government-imposed lockdowns and restrictions, affecting labor supply, input provisioning, logistics, and distribution channels, and shifting consumer demand for food. - Impacts differed by the degree of integration and modernization of food supply chains. - "Transitioning" supply chains were the most vulnerable - these chains are long but still poorly integrated, face infrastructure limitations, and are dominated by SMEs that depend heavily on hired labor. - Traditional supply chains also suffered, but less so being generally short and relying on family labor. - Modern, integrated supply chains were better positioned to adapt and innovate. Businesses that were able to "pivot" or innovate rapidly fared well, using either their own capacity or intermediaries to expand e-platforms for supply and delivery. - Ongoing trends, most notably the growth of supermarket-style retail, e-commerce, and food delivery, were accelerated by the pandemic. - Recent innovations such as e-commerce offer opportunities for SMEs in food supply chains. ; PR ; IFPRI4; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance ; MTID

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered intense discussions about the vulnerability of the world's food systems and food supply chains (FSCs) and about the roles of different types of supply chains, such as local vs. global, in providing food security. We know that the spread of the novel coronavirus and government- imposed lockdowns and other restrictions have had a range of impacts on FSCs, and triggered a variety of creative innovations to keep supply chains running. To guide government policy responses going forward, and to facilitate a shift to more resilient FSCs in the long run, we need to understand several things: the role of various types of supply chains in food security; how resilient they have — or have not — been to the pandemic's impacts; and what innovations are now emerging to improve their resilience. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4 ; DGO