Recovery from the pandemic: planning the reterritorialisation of agricultural activities

Abstract

This chapter discusses planning the reterritorialisation of agricultural activities as an avenue of the Covid-19 pandemic recovery. Reterritorialisation indicates local food being targeted to local inhabitants instead of the global market. We argue that the pandemic has accelerated the reterritorialisation process. Supply chain actors actively responded to the local market, local agrifood sector labour was revalued, the rural-urban linkage was rebuilt along with the lifestyle change, and public political awareness was raised in engaging local agrifood issues. We propose planning the reterritorialisation of agriculture as a solution to perpetuating local agrifood activities and recovering from the pandemic. We discuss planning strategies from perspectives of access to land, the transition of farming practices, and structuring local supply chains. We conclude with research agenda drawn from the challenges faced by the coexistence of local and global food systems, the policy coherence and the juxtaposed complex issues like climate change and geopolitical conflicts.