COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: Impacts on Agriculture and Emerging Policy Responses for Adaptation and Resilience Building
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have serious health and economic ramifications in Africa. This paper presents a technical position on demand and supply shocks associated with the COVID19 pandemic within the African context. We document the disruptions associated with containment measures implemented by various governments and their implications on labour mobility, import and export of food commodities, production and productivity of major staples and prices of food items. We also highlight policy needs focusing on containment of the pandemic while adapting African food production and distribution systems in response to the COVID-19 related shocks through concerted efforts to ensuring minimum disruptions on input supply, food production and marketing. Options for achieving this include agricultural sector stimulus programmes to support input access and value chain development, promotion and deployment of resilient technologies and digital agricultural solutions and providing social support to vulnerable communities.