Dear colleagues,

To your attention the appeal given below
Open letter from Dr. Ismail Serageldin, former Vice President of the World Bank and Chairman of the CGIAR,Honorary Founder and Director of the Global Agricultural Research Forum, regarding your endorsement of the joint letter addressed to the United Nations, the Group of 20 and National Leaders around the world on "COVID-19 and Agriculture for Food and Food Security" on behalf of the Global Agricultural Research Forum.
We would be very grateful if you would kindly read the draft of the letter that will soon be sent to the appropriate destination (subject to your consent) to subscribe (along with the indication of the position and place of work) directly to Mr. Hussein Sarvat at his email address: (sarwathussain50@gmail.com), as Dr. Ismail Serageldin wanted.
With best wishes.
Raj Paroda, Chairman of the GFAR 1998-2002

Open Letter to the UN, G-20 and National Governments on COVID-19 and Agriculture for Food and Food Security
We call for a set of internationally agreed and locally relevant measures to address the medium-and long-term challenges associated with the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture, food security and nutrition security. The current global health crisis has disrupted supply chains and highlighted the need to address the interrelated challenges of hunger, malnutrition, climate change and environmental degradation, and highlighted the need for concerted, proactive and collective action to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015.

We agree with many of the strong statements made by a number of leading international organizations, including the IMF( IMF), the World Bank (WB), the Food and Agriculture Organization( FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme( WFP), the Committee on World Food Security( CFS), the Food and Land Management Coalition, and the GCARD Roadmap prepared by the Global Agricultural Research Forum (GFAR), The International Commission for Drylands Development (IDDC) and the Malabomonpellier Expert Group (MaMo). The world's leading research institutes, dialogues organized by the World Food Prize (WFP), and many others are pushing the world in the right direction. Many of these international and regional efforts related to policy analysis and advocacy confirm the urgent need to strengthen international systems for agricultural research and food security. We reaffirm these proposals and want to emphasize the urgent need for real action at the global level on the ground.

While the COVID19 pandemic is a major public health crisis, food systems around the world are also under great stress. Consumers pay higher prices, supply chains are disrupted, children are deprived of school meal programs, and families who rely on food aid are struggling. Farmers have lost their markets and are worried about picking their current crop and planting it for the next season. Some governments have responded to the crisis with export bans and import restrictions, which could exacerbate price fluctuations and trade tensions that were already high before the COVID-19 outbreak. Governments should maintain open trade flows through sound export and import policies. Others responded with humanitarian action and tried to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of food supply chains. While these efforts were commendable, they did not reach the desired level. We need to re-establish sustainable local and regional supply chains based on diversified local food systems and sustainable management of natural resources. Concerted action is urgently needed to ensure that crops can be harvested and planted in the coming months, and to establish effective food collection and distribution systems that can deliver nutritious food to hungry people, especially women and children. While short-term responses to the crisis are vital, we must also consider a number of long-term impacts of the crisis on global food systems.

Achieving the SDGs will require action on the agriculture and food security fronts, and such action must be carried out at the local, national, regional and global levels in a well-monitored and coordinated approach. Before COVID-19 was hit, many countries were lagging behind in achieving the SDGs. COVID-19 will further push these efforts into the background, and so many countries need to rethink how best to ensure the food and nutritional security of their populations in the event of long-term supply or demand disruptions due to public health concerns and its economic impacts, while still thinking about environmental and climate factors. Unfortunately, research on these interrelated issues continues in areas such as the environment, agriculture,economics, and public health. We now need more transdisciplinary research to develop greater resilience in our agricultural and food security systems over the medium term.

Climate change and the disaster risks it portends have not disappeared, even if it has been pushed out of the media headlines by the COVID-19 crisis. But COVID-19 has demonstrated the profound impact that human activity has on our environment. Greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced; water and air quality are improving; and birds and wild animals are returning to their abandoned habitats. But we recognize that the economic and social costs of a sharp economic downturn are unacceptable in the long term, and yet this is an opportunity to re-emphasize the importance of conserving natural resources, especially agrobiodiversity, increasing carbon sequestration, improving soil health and water quality, renewable energy production, scientific ecoregional planning, efficient use of water and nutrients, diversification, greater dependence on local plant food systems, etc. This will require a paradigm shift in national priorities.

Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) play a critical role in the fight against COVID-19 and other global threats and challenges. The ICT and biology revolution can help rethink the food and agriculture systems to ensure food security for the poor and transform the sector by reducing its environmental and climate impacts. Disruptive innovation is needed to increase productivity and income through precision farming and the timely delivery of resources to farmers 'fields, using a" More from Less " approach. research should also help bring new technologies to market, including "off-the-shelf" ideas such as meat from single-celled proteins to algae biofuels; from accelerated fish farming to improved livestock breeding to plant-based proteins. Such a framework should allow for rapid movement from the "laboratory to the ground" and from the "farm gate to the consumer plate". Nutrition is important for all people at all stages of the life cycle. For women, health is a human right; their access to good nutrition is fundamental to ensuring good health and their empowerment. In addition, entire families benefit from the realization of women's right to health; children of women who eat well will be healthier, and these children will avoid stunting and wasting and will be able to grow into more active, healthy and productive young people. Supporting nutritious food and agricultural systems also ensures household nutrition security. The medium-and long-term response to COVID-19 should address the needs of all women, men and children, including those most marginalized.

Disruptions in the supply of raw materials will have a negative impact on agriculture over the next 6-24 months. Urgent action must begin now to ensure that adequate credit and agricultural resources (seeds, fertilizers and pesticides) are available when and where needed to strengthen farmers ' ability to supply products. Transportation, storage and distribution systems need to be improved, including the ability to change production systems to meet changing needs.

The international community must help the poorest countries to act on the ground. The World Bank (WB), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and regional development banks have played and continue to play an important role in supporting agriculture and food security. Bilateral donors and regional organizations, such as the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU), also have an important role to play. Together, they have an operational presence in more than 130 countries and can mobilize efforts to achieve a better future.

CGIAR can strengthen the global research system in working to improve the sustainability of the food security system and strengthen partnerships with national Agricultural Research Systems( NARS), the private sector and NGOs(NGOs).

The UN will host a food systems summit in 2021. This will be an important opportunity to develop a well-organized global effort to address these challenges. Ensure that the best practices of the few become the standard practices of the many, and that real partnerships are established between all Governments and regional banks, bilateral institutions, the private sector, NGOs and international organizations to implement local actions in support of farmers and consumers in all countries ... Finally, we firmly believe that, by acting collectively for the common good, motivated by our recognition of our common humanity, and guided by concern and compassion for the poorest and weakest of us, we must, we can, help human society overcome the multifaceted challenges to agricultural and food security caused by the pandemic, and lead society on a much stronger and more sustainable path of growth and balanced development. Now is the time to act.