This study assesses the extent of COVID‐19‐related food insecurity in Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia. Using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, we measure food insecurity in various dimensions and document several food access disruptions associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic between April and July 2020. Furthermore, we assess the association of COVID‐19 countermeasures with the adoption of various strategies in line with the coping strategies index. We rely on a unique phone survey that followed households who participated in an earlier field‐based survey. First, through Ordinary Least‐Squares and Probit regressions, we show a strong and statistically significant association between COVID‐19 countermeasures and food access disruptions and food insecurity in each of the three countries. We then use a multivariate probit regression model to understand the use of the various coping strategies, including reducing food intake, increasing food search, and relying more on less nutritious foods. We provide evidence on the complementarities and trade‐offs in using these coping strategies. COVID‐19 and related lockdown measures coincided with a deleterious increase in food insecurity in rural Africa.

Recognizing the diversity of farmers is crucial for the success of agricultural, rural, or environmental programs and policies aimed at the sustainable use of natural resources. In this study, based on survey data collected in the Kilombero Valley Floodplain (KVF) in Tanzania, we design a typology of farmers to describe the range of farm types and farming systems systematically, and to understand their livelihood and land use behavior. The KVF is the largest, low-altitude, seasonally-flooded, freshwater wetland in East Africa. Despite its values, KVF is a very fragile ecosystem threatened by current and future human interventions. We apply multivariate statistical analysis (a combination of principal component analysis and cluster analysis) to identify farm groups that are homogenous within and heterogeneous between groups. Three farm types were identified: “Monocrop rice producer”, “Diversifier”, and “Agropastoralist”. Monocrop rice producers are the dominant farm types, accounting for 65 percent of the farm households in the valley, characterized by more than 80 percent of the land allocated to rice, showing strong market participation and high utilization of labor. Diversifiers, on the other hand, allocate more land to maize and vegetables. Agropastoralists account for 7 percent of the surveyed farmers and differ from the other two groups by, on average, larger land ownership, a combination of livestock and crop production, and larger household sizes. This typology represents the diversity of farmers in KVF concerning their land use and livelihood strategy, and will allow to target policy interventions. Besides, it may also inform further research about the diverse landscape of floodplain farming, through the classification and interpretation of different socio-economic positions of farm households.

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