Covid-19

Following its examination of COVID-19 and the New Risks to Food Security and Nutrition, the Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security (EEFS) project looked into how challenges in the enabling environment from the COVID-19 crisis have impacted food systems in developing countries. Throughout the series, EEFS presents feedback from its remote survey of private sector partners operating in Feed the Future countries.

The first installment of the series examined impacts on grain and oilseed systems in Uganda, the second installment focused on impacts to the poultry system in Ethiopia, and the third installment looked at challenges in the enabling environment for meat and dairy systems in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. This fourth and final installment examines the impacts on agri-input systems and the potential knock-on effects on smallholder production systems

In Zambia, a farmer is asking herself how she will buy fertilizer as the price of imported goods skyrockets. The managers of a Tanzanian flour mill are fretting about how to keep production lines in operation when they can’t source replacement parts from countries under lockdown. Outside Nairobi, the owner of a small corner shop is wondering how to maintain sales when her customers have lost their income and the store’s hours of operations are restricted.

These are all scenes of African food businesses struggling to cope with the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. And while the pandemic will have far-reaching effects around the world, one of the most significant threats it poses is to global and local food systems.

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in early 2020, Feed the Future tapped into its global network of agribusiness partners to learn first-hand how they were responding in five critical business operation areas: production, sales, liquidity and financing, workforce, and decision-making. Their responses, captured in our five-part infographic and article series, revealed how pandemic-driven movement restrictions, supply change breakdowns, and plummeting sales created significant short and long-term challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted both the importance and fragility of global supply chains. From nasal testing swabs to medications, and bicycles to toilet paper, shutdowns and border controls have made it clear that businesses need to thoroughly understand where their products are sourced and how to deploy their inventories most effectively.

As the largest economy and the most populous country on this rich continent, Nigeria truly has a golden opportunity to lead the march and set benchmarks for how African countries should reshape their economies and prepare their industry in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This evidence report seeks to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the operations of agricultural small and medium enterprises (agri-SMEs) by analysing emerging global evidence and insights from six countries. These are Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA)'s three focus countries (Malawi, Nepal, and Uganda), as well as Ethiopia, Ghana, and Nigeria. 

A rapid response quick reference guide to identifying, developing, and deploying web-based strategies to sell your farm products during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

This aticle emphasizes the important entry point for sustainable agri-food enterprises during and post-COVID-19

The corona pandemic shows us in a very throbbing way how intertwined the private sector, government and the people are. For many companies, in the formal and informal sector, it is pure survival. 

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has changed the world so suddenly and enormously that the pandemic’s many food system effects will take time to fully understand. However, a food systems perspective suggests places we should monitor for potential disruption. What we already know is that malnutrition in all its forms is increasing the underlying risk of the severity of the virus, and global levels of malnutrition were already hugely concerning before the pandemic.

The COVID-19 virus continues to wreck havoc on international markets, presenting entrepreneurs with a dire economic outlook and growing set of challenges. To survive this storm, entrepreneurs must take immediate steps to secure their business and to guide their teams through these difficult times.

The COVID-19 crisis presents the world with a huge challenge: Everyone and everything is affected, and the response has to be both quick and global. While it is first and foremost a health crisis, it is also an education crisis, an employment and economic crisis, a crisis of hunger and poverty, and, in some countries, a crisis of governance and political stability. According to World Bank estimates, the global impacts will be profound and long-lasting. For developing countries with much larger populations at risk, fewer resources, and less capacity, the pressure to develop innovative approaches, test them quickly, and deliver them at scale is especially great.