new delhi as covid19 increasingly affects africa the shocks to agriculture and food systems become more evident building resilience for the most vulnerable is now a prioritythis was the message participants stressed repeatedly during the food and agriculture organizations fao brussels dialogue sustaining food security and resilience in africa in times of covid 19 a virtual event organized by the fao liaison office in brussels the event brought together partners from the african union the organization of the african caribbean and pacific group of states and the european union to continue the discussion that started some weeks ago with the aufao ministerial meeting on the impacts of covid19 on food security in africaopening the event rodrigo de lapuerta director fao brussels stressed the urgent need for investments in order to ensure the sustainable functioning of food systems and build the resilience of the populations for more effective recovery from the impact of the pandemicin africa already 412 million people suffer from hunger food insecurity and malnutrition impairing the bodys ability to resist the covid 19 infection said laurent thomas deputy directorgeneral fao referring to the alarming findings of the global report on food crises thomas highlighted the existing partnerships between fao unido the african union the european union and the organization of african caribbean and pacific states oacps all of which ensure that social protection measures are put in place for the most vulnerable in the continent such measures have been one of the top recommendations of the declaration adopted by the 55 african ministers in apriljosefa sacko african union commissioner for rural economy and agriculture focused on the ongoing work of the recently established task force on the impact of covid19 on food security and nutrition in africa sacko called for solidarity and unity during these difficult times and updated the audience on the ongoing work of the task force that will follow up on the actions of the ministerial declaration she highlighted the need to think beyond covid19 and to focus on innovative measures to modernize african agriculture such measures should include boosting intraregional trade using the continental free trade agreement the creation of green corridors and supporting the informal sector she saidgeorges chikoti secretarygeneral of the organization of african caribbean and pacific states oacps shared vivid examples from african countries as to how the pandemic has shaken the food systems and threatens livelihoodsthe ambassador of the gambia to the european union and chair of the committee of ambassadors of oacps teneng mba jaiteh said that strengthening agricultural systems is a priority because this is where the sustainability of food production lieswith a message that emphasized the one health approach to prevent future pandemics the european union was represented at the event by marjeta jager deputy directorgeneral of the european commissions directorategeneral for international cooperation and development jager stressed that the eu will continue to step up support to address the various food crises and the humanitariandevelopmentpeace nexus in hotspot areas with a special attention to the sahel