Covid-19: A stress test of Kenya’s resilience to food-system disruptions
A food system with the capacity to continue sustaining desired services amidst a disturbance is a resilient system. Evidently, Kenya’s food system is barely resilient as countless appeals for food have flooded both online and offline platforms in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. The severity of the impacts on food markets and small-scale food retailers, in particular, reveal the vulnerability of food systems in Kenya.
Kenyans who rely on the informal sector and daily wages are facing hunger threats. Most Kenyans barely have emergency savings. Moreover, with a large proportion of Kenya’s population dependent on different parts of the food system for their livelihood, the situation is seriously impacting access to food, and other basic necessities for ever-increasing numbers. Those affected include workers in the hospitality sector, which is close to collapse. And the list goes on: institutional cooks, hoteliers, farm labourers, food transporters, or home bakers and caterers who depend on (now illegal) social functions for a livelihood.
Disruptions to the entire food system due to Covid-19 containment measures are now well documented. So are there any viable solutions? Developing new market structures, and ensuring that farmers and other actors across the food value chain, have the means to rebuild their livelihoods, are two ways to lessen the shocks to the system.
Strengthening markets and supply chains
There are ways to strengthen the food distribution infrastructure to enhance both food access, on the demand side, and food-based livelihoods on the supply side. An example of this is how Kenyan farmers have embraced digital solutions to adjust to the market shift. Online market places have become the new normal as both collectives of producers, as well as individuals, seek the consumer online. Given the access to infrastructure such as mobile and internet technology, those able to move their business to these platforms have the upper edge in adjusting to the shift. However, the disadvantaged, who lack access to information on these resources are more likely to suffer massive losses. Bridging the information gap will therefore help build a resilient food system.
Crop insurance can help build farmers’ resilience
Facilitating, and increasing, access to farm insurance, is another measure that can help build resilience to food-system shocks. Insurance helps farmers to recover from poor harvests, or adjust to loss of revenue due to the lack of market access, declines in commodity prices, and so on. However, there is a need for action by the government and industry actors to address the current low levels of awareness about agricultural insurance.
Well-structured coordination among food system parties, government and the civil society is equally important in building resilience. Open communication during a shock such as Covid-19 should facilitate mitigation strategies and coping mechanisms. For instance, where farmers face problems accessing fertilisers or other inputs, there should be channels for them to express their needs to communicate with the government, and other stakeholders.
Covid-19 has exposed Kenya’s vulnerability to shocks, with one of the manifestations being our individual, household, and national food insecurity. The robustness of our response will therefore determine our resilience to the current, and future, shocks at all these different levels.
Written by Sharon Cheboi
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
