The article by the Sustainable
Development Policy Institute titled “Food Security Amid COVID-19: Money can
never be a substitute for food” discusses one of the impacts of COVID-19 on the
food supply, food safety, as well as food security. The author begins by
stating his opinion toward the topic. His last statement in paragraph 1 is
being used as the title. He clearly stated that “Money can never be a
substitute for food.” He briefly explains the situation of the food crisis and
lockdowns in many countries caused by the coronavirus. The first topic he
mentioned is the second wave of viruses that can make several devastating
impacts, along with the responses and strategies of each country. He gave a
statement about the early glimpse of those warnings that came with the crash of
oil prices in the US earlier this week, and he also put some additional
information about that.
In this article, the second topic
that was the author’s intention is the food supply chain. He inserted an
example of Pakistan’s food supply that is not yet affected by the pandemic, but
over time the lockdown will have an effect in any way. He proves it by
mentioning some adverse effects of the coronavirus and what will happen if it
comes true. He also slipped a comparison to support his statement. Food safety
is the third topic that the author brought up in this article. He explained
about the food packaging that really needs to be considered and the
consequences that can occur if food safety is poor. And finally, he included
some policy recommendations to ward off the challenges discussed above.
The author himself is
incorporated in the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). SDPI is a
think tank based in Islamabad, Pakistan. It provides the global sustainable
development community with representation from Pakistan as well as South Asia
as a whole. The Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania ranks it at
number 15 among research institutes in Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.
Those facts and this published article are the things that gained his
credibility and appealed to ethos.
Adding to his ethos appeal, the
author uses strong appeals to logos, with many facts and data. Those data
include the number of fiscal stimuli from the US to Pakistan; $2 trillion in
the US to $ 8 billion in Pakistan. The other data found in this article is the
additional 37 dollars that one must pay just to have the oil in one’s
inventories. He mentioned the fact that in Pakistan, they supply their foods
and ingredients from locals which may make one argue that coronavirus has not
yet affected the production and supply of major food items. The date of the
lockdown and the fact about a delivery boy of a pizza chain infected 72 of his
customers are also facts that appeal to logos.
Along with solid logos appeals,
the author effectively makes appeals to pathos from the beginning. In the first
sentence, the author mentioned that the “COVID-19 pandemic is admittedly a
black swan event.” A black swan event is an unpredictable event that is beyond
what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe
consequences. This ‘tragedy’ is very concerning considering the many lives
taken and the devastating effects that changed many aspects of the world, as
stated at the beginning of the fourth paragraph, “The devastating impact of the
pandemic is continuing through its center has shifted from China to Europe and
now to the US.”
However, the author plays an
active role in providing some suggestions or recommendations for what can be
done to ward off the challenges of all topics by considering all sides of
people. He not only delivered the problems but also provided the solution so
that the readers could pay more attention to this entire pandemic. The last
thing is the readers will be able to understand how one small glitch in one
small part of something can easily affect the whole of it.
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