Covid-19 presents an opportunity for agricultural and diet, diversity
The Kenyan government recently released a set of nutritional guidelines to help citizens boost their immunity against Covid-19. The guidelines call for a diverse diet, consisting of at least five food groups daily, for optimum nutrition. At the same time, a number of food programmes are underway, run by a range of actors, including the government, non-governmental organizations, private companies, and individuals.
While they aim to cushion segments of the population that are most vulnerable to food insecurity amidst Covid-19, most of these measures provide only short-term solutions. More sustainable solutions are required to ensure that the diet recommendations can still be adhered to once the pandemic has subsided.
While it is understandable that food programmes are focused on averting immediate hunger, their net effect is delivering on bulk and convenience, while disregarding nutritional value. Many food packages are dominated by carbohydrate-rich foods, such as maize, rice and potatoes. Very few initiatives promote more diversity, for instance through including locally available, and nutrient-rich, food crops, such as traditional vegetables, pumpkin, butternut, green bananas and root crops.
In a recent article, I argued that food aid packages might actually be harming nutrition security. The irony is that the same government that advocates a diverse diet is distributing food packages that do not meet its own guidelines on a diverse diet.
The brutal reality of Covid-19 is that low-income households cannot afford to follow the government’s nutritional advice. Hundreds of thousands of households have lost their entire livelihoods. A lot more have taken pay cuts and unpaid leave. To survive, they have resorted to an energy-based diet, which is generally cheaper, while cutting out nutrient-dense food groups, such as fruits, vegetables and animal proteins.. Ultimately, a low dietary diversity translates to malnutrition, which in turn predisposes individuals to Covid-19 infection.
Even prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, Kenya’s import-dependent agricultural sector had laid the foundation for our vulnerability to food system disruptions. For decades, domestic production of the main staple crops, such as rice, wheat and maize, has been on the decline, due to a lack of systematic policy incentives. Government decisions on when to resort to maize importation have been over-politicised, enabling well-connected individuals, to secure the coveted import tenders. With imports at a standstill, Kenyans now face a crippling shortage of the most affordable staple, since the country’s strategic maize reserves have been depleted.
A similar scenario can be seen in the rice value chain. Despite its potential to produce sufficient high-quality rice, which is Kenya’s second-most consumed staple after maize, the country imports 80% of its rice. Due to reduced availability linked to Covid-19 containment measures, the average retail price of rice, most of which is imported from Asia, is increasing.
Poor implementation of food policies
In 2017, Kenya adopted the Food Security Bill, aimed at realising the right to food, and freedom from hunger for all. The bill contains ambitious targets, such as promoting diet diversity through increased consumption of tubers, sorghum and millet, and pumpkins.. Had it been implemented as planned, the Bill would have helped the country to withstand some of the impacts of the current crisis. Unfortunately, this, and other well-formulated policies, remain on the shelf.
Beyond measures to enhance production, there is also need to “climate-proof” Kenya’s agricultural sector by ensuring that food diversification policies take into account weather fluctuations, and other risks.
This is certainly the case with maize. Due to increased climate uncertainty, many farmers in my home region, the Marakwet Highlands of western Kenya, have fallen into the maize poverty trap; since it takes an average of 10 months for the crop to mature. Since most rural households rely on local food for consumption, diversification is particularly important for their food, and nutrition security. By growing a variety of crops, such as peas, potatoes, traditional vegetables, and cold-resistant sweet potato, coupled with livestock keeping, farmers can adapt better to climate-related threats. To make this shift, there is a need for high-quality extension services, as well as strengthening market linkages, infrastructural development, and other basic services.
In conclusion, achieving the government’s goal of a diversified diet for all Kenyans is a multidimensional challenge that will require a multisectoral approach. Unless there is close coordination across bodies in charge of agriculture, health, trade, and social protection, progressive policy instruments like the Food Security Bill will continue to languish on dusty shelves, even as Kenyans continue to go hungry.
Written by Sharon J 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.
