scholarly journals Food Security and COVID-19 in Africa: Implications and Recommendations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esraa Mahadi Ali Mohamed ◽  
Samar Mohammed Alhaj Abdallah ◽  
Attaullah Ahmadi ◽  
Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Supply And Distribution ◽  
Food Commodities

Before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged Africa, a large percentage of Africans were already affected by poverty and food insecurity. The pandemic wreaked havoc on their already unfavorable situation. The direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 included but not limited to illness and deaths of food systems’ workers, interruption of food supply chains, unemployment, depreciation of currency value, and disruption of social protection programs. COVID-19 will lead to further economic fallout. Thus, the situation needs careful observation and timely intervention to safeguard the vulnerable African communities. Although Africa has sought ways to lessen the dire impact of the pandemic on food security, short-term solutions should include and enhance social and economic relief initiatives such as monetary intervention and social safety net. Considering a balance between health benefits of COVID-19 restrictions and their economic implications, the African countries, at the regional level, must preserve open and efficient social protection programs and cross-border supply and distribution networks for agricultural inputs. Africa’s medium- and long-term strategies for improving food security should include improving and diversifying its agricultural productivity and production of key food commodities. This will reduce Africa’s dependence on importation of these key commodities, and will help the continent address underlying economic vulnerabilities and better manage food, pandemic, and/or health-related crises affecting food security in the long term.

Pushing for Policy Innovation

2019 ◽  
pp. 122-147
Author(s):  
Marianne S. Ulriksen
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The Government ◽  
Policy Solutions

In the early 2000s, there was low elite commitment to social protection in Tanzania. Yet, in 2012, the government officially launched a countrywide social safety net programme and a year later announced the introduction of an old-age pension. This chapter explores what explains the change in elite commitment to social protection between the early 2000s and 2015. The analysis takes an ideational approach, and it is shown how the promotion of social protection has been driven by international and domestic institutions with the resources, expertise, and authority to present policy solutions fitting the elite’s general ideas about Tanzania’s development challenges and possible responses thereto. Thus, ideas play an important role in policy development but they may also be vulnerable to political interests that can challenge the long-term sustainability of promoted policies.

How an Innovative Sugarcane Biofuel System can Prevent a Clash between Food and Energy in Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (01) ◽  
pp. 1950005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilson de Paula ◽  
Wellington Pereira ◽  
Mary Jane Parmentier
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Potential Conflict ◽  
Industrial Transformation ◽  
Food Commodities ◽  
Second Generation Ethanol

Food commodities have been used worldwide for both human consumption and energy, amid concerns of environmental degradation and damaging effects on local food systems. Presently, strategies of rural development have encompassed the use of green resources to produce biofuels and an agenda of food security. We argue that by the strengthening of a Sectorial System of Production and Innovation involving farming activity, industrial transformation and institutional support, production for food and for energy can be balanced. Our discussion contributes to the resolution of the potential conflict between agro-energy and food production and the role of public policies in stimulating second-generation ethanol based on remaining biomass. Based on the current literature and empirical evidences, the prospects for sugarcane ethanol in Brazil are examined, bearing in mind the development of a system able to produce second-generation ethanol, as a strategy able to mitigate negative effects on food security.

scholarly journals Management of the Pandemic: Agriculture, Food Management and Resilience During Covid-19 in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-336
Author(s):  
Pushpa Singh
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Agricultural Activities ◽  
Entire System ◽  
Farming Practices ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Food Management ◽  
The Impact

This article aims to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on agricultural activities, food security and policies of food management during the pandemic in India, particularly with reference to hardships caused to the most vulnerable communities due to the loss of livelihood, issues of access and availability. The explorations suggest that the growing inclination to centralise the structure of contemporary food and farming would make the entire system fragile, further accentuating the issues of food insecurity in the country. On the other hand, the localised, diverse systems of farming practices existing in various parts of India are rooted in agroecology, judiciously using and conserving the local natural resources. Thus, they have emerged as not only sustainable in the long run but are also food secure. While this impending crisis has exposed the systemic weakness of globalised food systems like never before, it also provides us with a crucial opportunity to mend our food and farming, keeping the long-term sustainability and food security as the goals.

scholarly journals The Impact of Covid-19 on Livelihoods and Food Security

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thompson, John Thompson, John ◽  
Njuguna Ndung’u ◽  
Miguel Albacete ◽  
Abid Q. Suleri ◽  
Junaid Zahid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Food System ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Food Prices ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Equity Core

Studies of livelihoods and food systems since the start of the global pandemic in 2020 have shown a consistent pattern: the primary risks to food and livelihood security are at the household level. Covid-19 is having a major impact on households’ production and access to quality, nutritious food, due to losses of income, combined with increasing food prices, and restrictions to movements of people, inputs and products. The studies included in this Research for Policy and Practice Report and supported by the Covid-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) Programme span several continents and are coordinated by leading research organisations with a detailed understanding of local food system dynamics and associated equity and livelihood issues in their regions: (1) the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa; (2) supporting small and medium enterprises, food security, and evolving social protection mechanisms to deal with Covid-19 in Pakistan; and (3) impact of Covid-19 on family farming and food security in Latin America: evidence-based public policy responses.

scholarly journals Frontline Extension Professionals & COVID-19: Supporting Household Food Security & Building Resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23
Author(s):  
Mary Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Community Capitals ◽  
Community Capitals Framework ◽  
Household Food ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face

The world was not prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. It has tremendously impacted health and food systems around the world and the depth and breadth of its long-term effects are yet to be seen. The rates of those that will be in poverty and food insecure are significantly higher than the predictions pre-COVID. People are coping in any way that they can, at times in ways that will have lasting impacts on their households and communities. A community’s ability to absorb, adapt, and transform in the face of crisis can significantly impact how it is able to survive and thrive during those challenging times. A frontline extension professional can equitably build assets and thus capitals, ultimately increasing household and community resilience. Keywords: COVID-19; food security; resilience; coping; Community Capitals Framework

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 163-180
Author(s):  
Nicoli Nattrass ◽  
Jeremy Seekings
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Agricultural Employment ◽  
Poverty And Inequality

Chapter 8 considers the challenge of moving towards inclusive dualism for surplus labour countries. In such countries, decent work fundamentalism threatens to perpetuate or worsen poverty and inequality. As the extreme case of South Africa’s clothing manufacturing sector shows, decent work fundamentalism not only impedes job creation but it also destroys jobs. Decent work fundamentalism is a threat not just across Southern Africa and in other parts of the world where open unemployment is very high. It is also a threat across much of Africa, where unemployment rates have already risen and are predicted to continue to rise, especially amongst young people. Given the rapid growth of the labour force and the inability of agriculture to absorb more workers, most African countries need to expand urgently non-agricultural employment in labour-intensive sectors (including clothing manufacturing). Strengthening the safety net of social protection (through cash transfers and public works programmes) can mitigate poverty, but is unlikely to be any substitute for labour-intensive development.

scholarly journals The Compounded Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic and Desert Locust Outbreak on Food Security and Food Supply Chain

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1063
Author(s):  
Zhitao Xu ◽  
Adel Elomri ◽  
Abdelfatteh El Omri ◽  
Laoucine Kerbache ◽  
Hui Liu
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
The Face ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Global Food

The COVID-19 pandemic and locust swarm outbreaks pose a significant threat to global food systems, causing severe disruptions in both local and international food supplies from farm to fork. The main objective of this study is to understand and identify the disruptions during the crises and create a map of how resilience can be established to recover and sustain the food supply chain (FSC) functions as well as food security. The detrimental impacts of the compound crises on the FSC are explored and the effects of the affected areas are estimated under optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. As a response to the disruption caused by the crisis in FSCs, reactive and proactive solutions are proposed to develop resilience at the food sector level. In the short term, the reactive solutions, consisting of smoothing the food demand, supply and delivery, and food production and processing, can be borrowed. In the long term, the proactive solutions can be conducted by developing multi-level short intertwined FSCs. Our comprehensive investigation of the resilience elements in diverse operations and potential strategies should contribute to the improvement of FSC resilience in the face of ongoing and growing threats.

scholarly journals Resilience of Community Food Systems (CFS): Co-Design as a Long-Term Viable Pathway to Face Crises in Neglected Territories?

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Dias Turetta ◽  
Michelle Bonatti ◽  
Stefan Sieber
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Community Food Systems ◽  
Food Security And Nutrition

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a global crisis, with impacts an ongoing food security and nutrition, exposing the vulnerabilities of our society. However, it can be a time for reflection and an opportunity to propose and stimulate initiatives that are ready to facilitate resilience within the food system. The food to fork must be shortened and diversified where it is viable and feasible, while made affordable for all societal levels. To face these challengers, the community food systems (CFS) approach has a crucial role, since it copes with relevant principles, including the necessities of low-income societies from areas particularly marginalized from mainstream food systems, of which those land areas also can pose as additional insurance just in case of occurrence of whatever crises. Systematizing the components and contributions of CFS can facilitate the advance of strategies to better deal with crises and increase resilience. Therefore, in this paper, through key elements of CFS, we propose a theoretical framework that can be applied by decision makers as a conceptual guide for combating threats to food systems in neglected territories.

scholarly journals Socio-economic Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Smallholder Livelihoods in Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mhlanga ◽  
Emmanuel Ndhlovu
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Sustainable Livelihoods Framework ◽  
The Government ◽  
Capital Intensive ◽  
Livelihoods Framework

The article revisits previous viruses such as Ebola to extrapolate the socio-economic implications of the COVID-19. Using secondary sources and the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) to guide understanding, the article argues that unless measures are put in place to safeguard smallholder activities in Zimbabwe, COVID-19 has the potential to reproduce the same catastrophic implications created by Ebola in West African countries where peasant food systems where shattered and livelihoods strategies maimed. With a perceptible withdrawal of the government from small-scale farming towards large-scale capital intensive operations, smallholders could now be even more vulnerable. The article concludes that social assistance should now be intensified to protect its vulnerable population from the ravages of COVID-19.

Food security and social protection in highland Ethiopia: linking the Productive Safety Net to the land question

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Lavers
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Rural Ethiopia ◽  
Ethiopian Government ◽  
Land Question

ABSTRACTWhile much recent research has focused on the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), this is by no means the only social protection policy in rural Ethiopia. Drawing on a very different rationale to the PSNP, the Ethiopian government also justifies state land ownership as a form of social protection for smallholders. This paper examines the links between these policies through a case study of an extremely food-insecure site. The paper concludes that while the PSNP and land policy together provide minimal security for landholders, land shortages and the problematic nature of agricultural production are such that there is little chance that the PSNP and its complementary programmes can achieve food security. As a result, the PSNP is used to support failing agricultural policies, limiting urban migration in the interests of political stability. These findings highlight the importance of situating safety net programmes within the socioeconomic context which generates insecurity.

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