Of Onions and Trade Wars in East Africa: The Diplomatic Dimension of Covid-19
It is an undeniable fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected wide swathes of the global economy. Coupled with social “shutdowns,” pandemic-induced disruptions have defined the first half of 2020, as governments enforce policies meant to contain the virus.
Inevitably, food distribution lines have been severely disrupted, both at national, and regional levels. The humble onion offers a good case study of the pandemic’s impact, right from household level, to intra-regional trade in East Africa.
Onion trade patterns in East Africa
In 2017, the regional agribusiness organisation, Kilimo Trust, carried out a study titled: ‘Characteristics of markets for red bulb onions in the East African Community.’The study stated that onions are the most consumed vegetable in nearly all households and institutions where food is prepared. According to the researchers, the staple nature of onions and population growth are the biggest drivers of its consumption in the region,” Furthermore, the researchers observe that Kenya is a “structurally onion-deficient country,” with 67% of traders sourcing it from Tanzania.
A generic assessment of Kenyan society reveals the validity of these research findings: Almost all Kenyan meals are prepared using onions and tomatoes. Even in circumstances where tomatoes are inaccessible, chances are high that onions will still be present in the cooking pot. With the Kenyan population growing at an annual rate of 2.2%, demand for onions continues to rise. At the same time, Kenya has the highest cost of production in the region due to its taxation regime. This has led to a production deficit given that Kenyan-grown onions cannot compete with those grown in neighboring countries.
For most onion traders, importation makes more business sense. As Kilimo Trust reports, wholesalers source onions (mainly Red Creole and Red Bombay varieties) from Tanzania because of their long shelf life. Additionally, onions from Tanzania have a short supply chain due to the proximity of border points to major food markets, which reduces logistical costs, and reduces chances of spoilage while on transit.
The problem with imports, however, is that they leave a country exposed to external shocks and diplomatic wars. Covid-19 is one such external shock that has led to a diplomatic war as Kenya and Tanzania have very divergent views on how to contain the pandemic.
Reopening old diplomatic wounds
On 16th May, Kenya closed its borders with Tanzania and Somalia, with the exception of food trucks. Even then, truck drivers had to undergo mandatory Covid-19 tests before being allowed into the country. Tanzania reacted immediately with a counter-ban on Kenyan trucks, including those that carry food products, with Tanzanian officials accusing Kenyan truckers of bringing Covid-19 into the country.
Whereas Kenya has mirrored the lockdown steps taken by most countries, Tanzania has taken a more skeptical approach to tackling Covid-19. After some initial containment measures, Tanzania fully reopened its economy, including educational institutions and places of worship. The contrast between the two countries is exemplified by the personalities of their leaders: Kenya’s President Kenyatta has placed more trust on scientific guidance, and security forces, using a large group of technical advisors as the backdrop to a recent “state of the pandemic” address. President Magufuli has put faith in traditional medicine and God. Both measures are controversial: Kenyan police have been accused of brutality, and some called to question the objectivity of the President’s pandemic projections. On the other hand, the Tanzanian government has been accused of risking the lives of its citizens.
These opposing viewpoints on Covid-19 are the most recent manifestation of a long-standing diplomatic rivalry between the two countries. Although Kenya and Tanzania are both members of the six-member East African Community trade area, trade rivalries have defined protectionist policies resulting in seizure of products and export bans. Towards the end of 2017, trade between them plunged to a 10-year low as tensions soared, before bilateral meetings restored a semblance of good neighborliness.
Impact of divergent Covid-19 policies on Kenyan onion traders
This time, onion traders have found themselves at the center of the fallout.
In interviews with a number of Kenyan traders the full impact of the border closures becomes clear. Traders have to leave their trucks on the Kenyan side of the border before proceeding to onion-producing areas such as Singida and Karatu. After purchasing onions, they hire 10-ton Tanzanian trucks to transport their cargo to the border. Once there, the vegetables are off-loaded and loaded into the waiting Kenyan trucks which proceed inland.
The resulting financial costs means that only the larger traders with more financial muscle are able to make these adjustments. However, the additional costs incurred are passed onto consumers, which has led to a countrywide spike in the retail price of onions. A spot check by the Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper, revealed that in places like Nyeri, the cost of a kilo of onions rose by almost 90% between April and May 2020. Many smaller traders have been forced to stop selling onions altogether, or to seek products from the low-producing Kenyan farms. This sudden surge in demand has manifested in supply of premature and poor-quality onions in the market.
The way forward
Although Kenya and Tanzania have signed agreements to resume free movement of goods, the situation is yet to be fully resolved. It may take quite a while before diplomats on either side of the border find common ground. Agriculturalists, on the other hand, have a common ethos: It is advisable for a country to meet its own food demands whenever it can. Doing so enables it to avoid situations where disruptions to global or regional trade threaten its food security.
Covid-19 has revealed how heavily reliant Kenya is on Tanzania for onions despite having the right conditions to grow the vegetable. With a rising population, this reliance is set to continue. The only reason Kenya heavily imports this product is the lack of an enabling environment for affordable local production. Only by improving local productive capacities can the country meet its own needs. How to do that is something the government already knows.
Which begs the question, why isn’t it?
Written by Atula Owade
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.
