We must safeguard our food systems through and beyond the crisis
What you need to know:
The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted agricultural production and markets.
It is certain that even if the economy were opened today there would not be enough to eat. Donor agencies estimate that at least 1.3 million people mainly from the arid regions of Kenya are currently facing food crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.
We must act to safeguard food security and speed up the recovery of the agricultural sector.
For years John Barabara has been a successful farmer growing vegetables and selling the produce to boarding schools. The pandemic has disrupted his modus operandi.
He did not have a market for this year's crop. Instead, he fed cows everything that he had harvested. Due to uncertainties, he has not revisited the idea of going back to his shamba. He lost this year, but if things go back to normalcy, the schools won't have food for the pupils.
This problem isn't an isolated case. It is a significant problem for many people across the continent. The production and consumption patterns of food during and after the coronavirus crisis is disrupted. Even without the current pandemic, food security in Africa has been under threat from low agricultural productivity, population growth and the region's dependence on food imports.
For example, donor agencies estimate that at least 1.3 million people mainly from the arid regions of Kenya are currently facing food crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity. A prolonged pandemic could create a major food crisis in the country. In addition, there are approximately 500,000 refugees in Kakuma and Dadaab who are in need of assistance. It will require precise interventions to avoid human catastrophe.
Africa's food vulnerabilities emanate from the fact that the continent has become a net food importer. Yet, 60 per cent of the arable land globally is in Africa. The management of food systems remains weak that any crisis, small or big, becomes a significant threat to livelihood.
In an early June 2020 report, Safeguarding Africa's food systems through and beyond the crisis, McKinsey and Company details how to safeguard Africa's food systems. The report envisages demand-side shock where the loss of jobs and livelihoods could lead to food price volatility and ultimately amplify the crisis through increased food insecurity.
Further, trade shock, especially demand shocks in critical markets, may cause a drop in export earnings and increased price volatility for export crops such as coffee, tea and flowers. Finally, production shock, where Covid-19 may disrupt upcoming planting seasons and impede an effective response to the East African locust outbreak.
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS
The report suggests immediate actions that could safeguard food security and speed up the recovery of the agricultural sector. African governments must take the lead to ensure continuity in the agrarian food systems as they address food insecurity. There are many actions that governments must consider.First, governments must proactively develop a collaborative public and private sectors national nerve centre. To the credit of the Kenyan government, the report says that the country has already…
set up a food-security "war room" and is deploying digital tools and data-gathering approaches to managing food availability, accessibility, and affordability—as well as providing support to value-chain players. Kenya is proactively gathering pricing and availability data on about ten food commodities at a subnational level every week through a digital tool and maintaining dashboards on trends to identify any "hot spots" where interventions are required.
Besides food availability, accessibility and affordability, governments must identify "hot spots" of shortages or hoarding, and in intervening where necessary, track ongoing indicators to ensure continuity of the agricultural and food system, provide targeted support where appropriate, track availability and distribution of farming inputs, ensure that critical value-chain actors such as seed inspectors, extension agents, and traders can work safely, and ensure that crucial produce markets are open.
Second, create digital data rooms to track and forecast food availability, pricing, and accessibility, both during and after the crisis. This task should go beyond monitoring to include trade flows, food pricing at the retail level, and availability at food shops in urban and rural areas. It could also bring together multiple sources of data, including surveys of retail shops from consumer goods or e-commerce players, trade data from commodity traders, and stock data from processors.
Thirdly, prepare to transform war rooms into standing crisis response units after the crisis. Even as economies open, the ongoing threats of pests, climate change, and isolated security events mean that food systems in Africa might face current crises.
Lastly, transform agricultural and food systems. While the immediate concerns of protecting the health of citizens may be taking precedence during the crisis, governments need to keep their foot on the pedal of agricultural transformation. They can take this opportunity to rethink their agriculture and food systems strategically.
Africa must arise to safeguard its food systems by leveraging on data and other proactive measures. In future, the continent must improve its productivity, manage population growth and increasingly reduce its dependence on imports. By so doing, the continent will create jobs for its restless youths.
The writer is a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi's School of Business.
