Coronavirus has dealt the fossil-fuel industry the biggest single blow in its history, and it is clear that 2020’s plummeting demand for oil and gas is no mere flesh wound.

Food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa is not news – the region is widely recognised as the world’s most food insecure. And, as participants to last week’s webinar highlighted, the COVID-19 pandemic is just the latest of three threats in as many years to the region’s food systems, following as it does the devastating fall armyworm and desert locust invasions in 2018 and 2019.

An outbreak of African swine fever in Nigeria is reportedly “decimating” livestocks as farmers cull hundreds of thousands of pigs in efforts to stop the disease.

On June 13 I had a follow up conversation on how people are coping with the Covid-19 lockdown in Zimbabwe.

Organic sales are set to break the £2 billion mark this year and health-conscious consumers are increasingly looking at plant-based diets and sustainable, alternative protein sources. All of which creates new opportunities for food producers and more reasons to source directly from smallholder farmers.

As a growing population and climate change threaten food security, researchers around the world are working to overcome the challenges that threaten the dietary needs of humans and livestock.