Restructuring the Kenyan food system post Covid-19
The shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic have had a ripple effect on every single sector of the Kenyan economy.
The cessation of local, and international travel brought the transport sector to its knees, and severely impacted tourism, as well as the hospitality sector as a whole. The flower export industry experienced a 50% drop in exports, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of flower farmers who have lost buyers for their main income generating crop. With schools shut down right from the onset of the crisis, the education sector has struggled to cope with the logistical challenges of moving learning to online platforms, which are inaccessible for the majority. Moreover, the psycho-social impacts of “locking up” millions of children and young people for such an extended period, have also been widely reported. Alarming headlines about spiralling rates of teenage pregnancies, youth crime, gender-based violence and other supposed negative consequences of the pandemic, have become commonplace. Not to mention the inevitable repercussions on medical workers, who shoulder the biggest burden of this health crisis.
Over the past three months, the CovidFoodFuture team has published numerous articles, exploring various dimensions of the pandemic’s impact on agriculture and food systems, alongside extensive solutions. We have highlighted, among other impacts on small-scale farmers: poor market access — and corresponding post-harvest losses — and a decline in accessibility of inputs during the planting season. Our articles also stressed the importance of putting in place stronger social safety nets to compensate for reduced purchasing power, as well as a rise in food prices.
Since the pandemic began close to four months ago, adjustments in every key industry have had to happen. Most of these changes might be temporary, but some could outlive the pandemic. This article will highlight some of the food system changes that arose from Covid-19, and steps towards restructuring and sustaining our food system to accommodate the long term implications of the pandemic.
1. Changes in food trading and an influx of e-commerce platforms
At the start of the pandemic, many farmers struggled to access physical markets as the government ordered the temporary shutdown of some high-risk markets. This, coupled with the closure of learning institutions and hotels where a large bulk of farmers would sell their produce, made it difficult for many producers. E-commerce is emerging as an efficient coping strategy for many, helping to bring about better access to buyers. Moreover, the transparency of online platforms gives farmers a chance to negotiate for better price deals.
This trend towards greater digitisation of the agricultural sector, aided by the shift towards cashless transactions to prevent transmission of the virus, is likely to remain post Covid-19. In order to restructure the food system to adjust to this change, it will be necessary to strengthen digital literacy among rural communities, as part of existing physical extension services to farmer groups, and other communities. Should this transition be made, farmers and other rural producers will have a chance to escape exploitation by opportunistic brokers, mismanaged cooperatives, and other actors in agricultural value chains.
2. A reduced overreliance on food imports
Kenya is highly import dependent, sourcing even basic commodities such as onions, tomatoes, and eggs from neighbouring countries and farther afield. More often than not, this is at the expense of incomes and livelihoods of local farmers who face high costs of production due to a myriad of challenges, including over-taxation, poor infrastructure, as well as inadequate access to good-quality inputs, and farmer training.
The global market disruptions, brought about by the Covid-19 crisis have added to these structural issues, causing a temporary increase in prices of key staples such as rice and wheat, which are predominantly imported from Asia, Russia, and Argentina.
In a previous article, I highlighted the importance of agricultural self-sufficiency, both at household and at national level. I explored, among other solutions, how production within our borders can be optimised, and integrated with infrastructural development to ease trade barriers across county borders..
At household level, countless families have started kitchen gardens to grow herbs and vegetables. This is another coping strategy that is likely to persist post Covid-19. This, in turn will help promote food security, with households able to access vegetables more readily. One way of restructuring our food system is to continue and expand the kitchen garden project, launched by the Ministry of Agriculture, to encourage consumption of fresh vegetables, towards nutrition security
In the drive to increase agricultural productivity, the linkage between food, and environmental policy, has not been sufficiently addressed over the past years. Degrading soils, a decrease in pollinators, and rising pesticide residues in water and food, are just a few of the many examples of agriculture-related environmental degradation. To mitigate this, it is imperative to enhance coordination between the ministries of Environment, Agriculture, and Health, and other stakeholders, in order to work towards the sustainability of our food systems.
3. Strengthening synergies across diverse food-related sectors
The pandemic has exposed the inadequacy of efficient channels of delivery for both social protection, and farmer services. When Kenya launched several social protection programmes in the wake of Covid-19, one challenge was how to better target and reach the most vulnerable. For smallholder farmers who were largely affected at the peak of the planting season, this targeting was relatively easier as long as they were involved in active groups. Functional cooperatives and farmer groups have proven to provide an efficient channel for socioeconomic support by the government and other development partners. Additionally, post Covid-19, well-managed cooperatives will be key in supporting enhanced production, value addition, and competitiveness, in a rapidly changing marketplace.
As different actors continue to fine-tune initiatives to prop up affected sectors, the government, development partners, and individuals, bear the responsibility of streamlining our food system, and achieving food security for all.
The big question is, will we?
Written by Sharon Cheboi
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative aiming to provide a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Central to our approach are the experiences of young, urban and peri-urban farmers, street vendors and informal retailers, and low-income consumers. Follow @CovidFoodFuture on Twitter. Covid-19 Food/Future is an initiative by TMG. ThinkTank for Sustainability (www.tmg-thinktank.com), or on Twitter @TMG_think. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
