Food insecurity and outcomes during COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 led to the implementation of lockdowns and social distancing regulations to curb the spread of infections. Consequently, the lockdowns impeded the movement of smallholder farmers, agricultural inputs, and food products thereby disrupting the food supply chains in SSA. Therefore, this paper examines the relationship between food security indicators (accessibility, availability, utilization, stability) and COVID-19. This study uses ordinary least square regression (OLS) models to study the relationship between the food security indicators and COVID-19. The study considers 9 out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal) due to data availability restrictions. The result of the analysis indicated that a rise in COVID-19 levels negatively impacts all the 4 indicators of food security without exception. This paper underscores the need to consider the disruptions of food security indicators such as diet, nutritional content, access and availability, affordability, and food supply chains. Moreover, the paper discusses mitigating strategies that may alleviate SSA’s food security amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We recommend that SSA countries invest in quality agricultural and food production infrastructure and supporting industries that contribute directly to the food supply chain, such as agro-processing, fertilizer production and transport. Another important dimension of the COVID-19 and food insecurity syndemic is the income shocks that occurred as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak. Like many factories, companies, and service providers closed shop (especially the informal sector), people lost their incomes as a result of loss of employment and, in many instances, no social protection. Therefore, we recommend that SSA governments develop affordable, sustainable, and targeted social protection/insurance systems that extend to the informal sector of the economy.