This article from SUN Business Network (SBN) provides a snapshot of how nutritious food SMEs have been impacted by COVID-19, and what challenges, opportunities and innovations exist to ensure they can continue operations and serve consumers. Information provided is based on the survey SBN conducted in May 2020, which 'aimed to assess the impacts of COVID-19, the associated control measures on SMEs, and to identify SME support needs across the 17 SUN countries.'
According to Jonathan Tench, SBN Global Coordinator: “Our survey reveals the devastating extent of the pandemic so far on the SME sector, especially for businesses involved in fruit, vegetable, grain, and fish value chains. Decreased sales, difficulty accessing inputs, and reduced production has put businesses, jobs, and access to healthy diets at risk in communities already facing the challenge of malnutrition... SBN calls on partners to assist us in providing access to finance and technical assistance to keep nutritious food-producing SMEs afloat – and help them build stronger, more resilient businesses with an even greater impact on nutrition, so that they can bounce back from this crisis.”
Read the full article and see the survey results: COVID-19 and SMEs: Supporting small enterprises to avoid a nutrition crisis
