German Food and Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner discusses the new coronavirus COVID-19 and its impact on supplies in Berlin on 17 March PHOTO: AFP

Germany may struggle to feed itself if the coronavirus crisis persists unless it takes steps to strengthen the supply chain, according to Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner.

In a letter to chancellery chief Helge Braun dated March 18, Kloeckner warned that the outbreak may in time disrupt food provision by causing labor shortages at farms and food-production units, sap liquidity in the agricultural sector and trip up logistics.

“Unless its sown, planted, harvested and transported, it’s not going to be available in stores,” Kloeckner in the letter distributed to news organizations Thursday. A drawn-out crisis could lead to “real shortages” starting with fruit and vegetables before impacting staples, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat ally said.

In an eight-point plan, Kloeckner urged cabinet colleagues to approve moves to ease potential labor shortages -- including flying in some of the 300,000 eastern European seasonal workers on whom German farmers rely every year. The unemployed and approved asylum seekers should also be encouraged to work in farming, and restrictions on working hours and payments eased, she said.

The government must also grant financial aid to farms from its “big bazooka” of crisis measures, she said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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