How Covid-19 is affecting small-scale food retailers in urban Kenya
Produce markets are the heart of food distribution in urban areas. They serve both consumers and smaller retailers. However, as a result of Covd-19, Kenyan food systems have been disrupted. To understand some of the specific cases and situations facing the smaller food retailers, I headed out to a local informal market in Eldoret town, in western Kenya. I spoke with four female traders about some of the challenges they were facing, as well as any responses and solutions they had found. Here’s what they told me.
Ann Kemei, 37, mother of three. Sells cabbage, potatoes and onions
With her mask slightly under her chin, I jokingly ask her whether she knows that she has worn her mask wrong. She laughs and says that she can’t breathe well with it on. So she occasionally lowers it while she is not serving her customers.
“Non-food sellers have all gone,” she says. She explains that some have moved to other locations within the central business district where markets still run. Others have switched to selling foods, increasing already high competition. Some have absolutely given up to depend on their spouses’ income.
“All these stalls were usually filled,” she says, waving towards the empty places.
“You are my second customer,” she informs me. “My first customer bought cabbages worth 60 bob [around 60 US cents] and it is already 1pm.” I have four more hours before the [7 pm] curfew catches up with me, yet I have gotten only KES 90 since 7 am.”
Ann adds that on normal market days, non-food customers would usually pass by to look at her products, giving her a chance to convince them to buy. “Now, no one comes. I have to supplement my income by doing laundry for people, which has proven to be even harder.”
As a consumer, her income has also been affected. Her consumer habits have had to change. While she can physically access food, she finds her ability to purchase food much lower.
“I mostly eat the sales before they go bad. I’d rather feed my children, than return my sales,” Ann emphasizes.
The disruption to the supply side due to lockdown has also caused commodity prices to go up. For instance, a 25kg sack of potatoes would usually go for KES 1300. Market traders are now buying it at double the price, forcing Ann to increase her prices as well.
Mama Ashavene, 30, mother of one. Sells onions, carrots, tomatoes, green pepper, and potatoes
As I enter the market, Mama Ashavene is the first person to call me to her stall. She sits just inside the main entrance. Luckily, her tomato sales are barely affected as most households use tomatoes in every meal. She still has access to her stock supplier, but explains that most farmers no longer come directly to the markets.
“Usually, farmers would bring their produce from as far as Iten and Kapsowar [around 40 km and 76 km away from the market respectively]. Now, they are afraid and have resolved to sell their produce to the nearest buyer.” She explains that her mother, a small scale farmer herself, would bring her produce here to fetch better prices.
“She is now afraid to come to Eldoret for fear of catching Covid-19. I believe her sales and prices are much lower. “
Brenda Nasimiyu, 22, single. Sells sukuma wiki (kale) and spinach seedlings
For two years, Brenda has been selling seedlings along Eldoret-Iten road. Before Covid-19, it earned her a decent living.
“I manage seven nurseries with my colleagues. On a good day, I would even make sales of KES 1000 [around 10 USD] from one nursery.” Times have changed. Her sales now have “more bad days than good.” She has also lost one hour in her day due to the curfew. She now has to close at 5 pm to make it home on time.
When I shared my expectations that with more people growing their own vegetables in the city, this would increase her sales, she disagreed. Since Covid-19, her business has had more bad days that good. However, she could not understand why this was the case, despite it being planting season. Her presumption is that the uncertainties of Covid-19 had that impact.
Explaining how her own food consumption has changed, Brenda says she is lucky that she does not have dependents. “I still eat the same way I’d eat before Covid-19, but these days, I skip lunch on pretty bad days.”
I ask how much she would usually spend on lunch per day.
“Thirty shillings” is her brief reply.
Phyllis, 33, mother of three. Car boot seller of pineapple and watermelon
“I have sent my three children to their grandmother.”
Phyllis describes herself as one of the urban poor. , who depend entirely on buying everything, despite their limited incomes.. Before Covid-19, she would sell more than 100 pineapples per day, either whole or in portions for direct consumption. She would buy each pineapple — which come from Uganda — at KES 20 [around 20 US cents], and sell them for between KES 40 and 60. This supply source has been affected by the Covid-19 border restrictions.
“I hear that police have turned this into a money-making scheme,” she explains. Prices have doubled as a result.
“Right now, I have to double my prices as well,” Phyllis laments. With the price of a whole pineapple now ranging from between KES 80 and 130, very few customers are willing to buy. In better times, she would have sold the sliced pineapple, but this has now been forbidden by the authorities for health reasons.
“I understand my customers. Most of them rely on the kadogo [informal] economy. So if they ask, we still try to sell them the slices. But we do it in hiding.”
Cushioning small-scale retailers
These market traders put a personal face to the impact that the closure, or restriction, of informal markets is having on livelihoods and household food security in urban areas. Farmers are also experiencing difficulty in getting their products to the market, hence disrupting the entire food system.
Each of the retailers spoken to called for the government to support farmers logistically so that food can reach the market. One requested for better social protection and food aid.
Indisputably, food retailers are the strong link between producers and consumers. To ensure food security amidst Covid-19, they must receive better support.
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.
