Regional impact of COVID-19 on the production and food security of common bean smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implication for SDG's

Abstract

Concerns about the implications of COVID-19 on agriculture and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa abound. Containment measures in response to the pandemic have markedly different outcomes depending on the degree of enforcement of the measures and the existing vulnerabilities pre-COVID. In this descriptive study, we document the possible impacts of the pandemic on bean production and food security using data collected from March to April 2020 in eleven countries in four sub-regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results reveal that COVID-19 created significant bean production challenges across the sub-regions, including low access to seed, farm inputs, hired labor, and agricultural finance. We also show that COVID-19 threatens to reverse gains made in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals number 1 and 2. Countries in Southern and Eastern Africa are likely to suffer temporal food shortages than those in Western and Central Africa. Although governments have responded by offering economic stimulus packages, much needs to be done to enable the sub-sector to recover from ruins caused by the pandemic. We recommend building sustainable and resilient food systems through strengthening and enabling public-private partnerships. Governments should invest directly in input supply systems and short food supply chains through digital access and food delivery.

Causal Impacts of Epidemics and Pandemics on Food Supply Chains: A Systematic Review

“…In addition to poor physical health, human resource constraints can also be caused by psychological and social factors such as feelings of sadness, apathy, fear, uncertainty, frustration, anxiety, insomnia, and others [90]. Activities automation is frequently mentioned (e.g., [8,56,91]) as a policy to mitigate this impact. Food production activities must be mechanized and automated using intelligent technologies so that human interference is minimal [8].…”

Sustainability of the agri-food supply chain amidst the pandemic: Diversification, local input production, and consumer behavior

“…The outbreak and spread of COVID-19 and the unprecedented restrictions to curb infections disrupted the provision of essential farm inputs across the globe. Sub-Saharan Africa countries largely depended on farm inputs and machinery imports and were expected to be affected by the pandemic ( Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021a ). Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021a , Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021b reported challenges accessing seed and fertilizer as some of the consequences of lockdowns and other COVID-19 containment measures in Sub-Saharan Africa.…”

“…Sub-Saharan Africa countries largely depended on farm inputs and machinery imports and were expected to be affected by the pandemic ( Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021a ). Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021a , Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021b reported challenges accessing seed and fertilizer as some of the consequences of lockdowns and other COVID-19 containment measures in Sub-Saharan Africa. In another study, Nchanji and Lutomia (2021b) affirmed that localized access to seed strengthened the resilience capacity of supply chains to the effects of the pandemic.…”

“…Furthermore, sub-Saharan Africa countries have high poverty levels, and, therefore, the COVID-19 containment measures were expected to worsen the situation ( Ayanlade and Radeny, 2020 ). Finally, the impacts were expected to be dire in the agriculture sector due to the double tragedy of climate change and overreliance on global supply chains for input and food imports ( Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021a ; Shimeles et al, 2018 ). Such challenges and situations offer important lessons for thinking strategies for developing resilient and sustainable food systems now and in the future.…”

Global trends on Covid-19 and food security research: A scientometric study

“…For example, Covid-19 has been related to other subjects of the study such as social sciences ( Lake et al, 2021 ; Zhou and Guo, 2021 ), computer science ( Oliveira et al, 2021 ; Rahman et al, 2021 ), environmental sciences ( Sharif et al, 2021 ; Tarazona et al, 2021 ; Vale et al, 2021 ), and energy ( Geraldi et al, 2021 ; Szczygielski et al, 2021 ). The Covid-19 pandemic also has links to other global issues and problems such as poverty ( Brum and Rosa, 2021 ; Tavares and Betti, 2021 ), climate change ( Bhat et al, 2021 ; Rosenbloom and Markard, 2020 ), anthropogenic stressor ( Sarà et al, 2021 ), and food security ( Nchanji and Lutomia, 2021 ; Nechifor et al, 2021 ; Shupler et al, 2021 ).…”