IMPACT OF COVID-19 LOCKDOWN ON FOOD SECURITY IN RWANDA

Abstract

Globally, COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected all sectors of economies. The crisis has drastically impacted food security. The Supply chains, food and nutrition security, as well as current and future production functions have been negatively impacted by a host of factors related to the COVID- 19 pandemic crisis. Hundreds of millions of people were already suffering from hunger and malnutrition before the virus hit. Unless immediate action is taken, we could see a global food emergency. The purpose of this paper was to contribute on understanding of the resultant impacts that COVID-19 has on food security in Rwanda. The paper focussed on a comprehensive literature review on past global pandemics lockdowns and the impact they had on food security on household livelihoods. Food security is a basic human need and basic requirement for survival in difficult times. In the longer term, the combined effects of COVID-19 itself, as well as corresponding mitigation measures and the emerging global recession could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems. Such disruption can result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century. The onset of the COVID-19 crisis in Rwanda led to a total country lockdown on March 2020 that exponentially increased Rwanda’s food security problems. Being a landlocked country, food supply chain distribution networks were severely constrained. The numerous negative impacts of the health crisis are having a compound effect on all facets of food security, including food production, safety and distribution. The lockdown, curfews, closures of markets, restrictions on border crossings and movement limitation measures (while necessary for public health and safety concerns), hamper the functioning of the agricultural sector, and Small to Medium Enterprise (SMEs) that make up the Rwanda supply chain backbone. These restrictions exacerbate food insecurity and nutritional deficits issues across the country affecting all sectors. Food prices have been showing an upward trend. In March 2020, the CPI increased by 4 percent compared to the previous month, 24 percent compared to the previous year, and 49 percent higher than five years ago. The prices of staple commodities such as beans, maize, and salt continue to surpass their respective 5-year averages. Although the overall Consumer Price Index is higher for the rural areas, the 5-year price data from National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda highlighted that the prices for all staple commodities were lower in rural areas. Rwanda has formulated a social protective plan for the delivery of free food to at least 20 000 households in the capital Kigali. This indicates that urban populations would be more impacted by the upward price changes, especially those in informal sector activities, which require them to be mobile in order to earn an income. The study concluded that COVID-19 crisis is undermining the ability of agri-food enterprises to ensure consistent supplies of food to markets from enforced closures, labour shortages due to illness, and a slowdown in operations caused by physical distancing and lockdowns. These circumstances are compromising enterprises’ ability to continue with business as usual, and in many cases, threatening the survival of some beyond the crisis, with implications for food security and increased long-term poverty and malnutrition.

During lockdown, 95% of participants indicated income decline and 88% reported being food insecure. Three quarters of participants cooked less frequently and half altered their diet. One quarter (27%) of households primarily using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking before lockdown switched to kerosene (14%) or wood (13%). These results indicate that the livelihoods of urban Rwandan families were deleteriously affected by COVID-19 lockdown, with a likely rise in household air pollution from community-level increases in polluting fuel use. To safeguard public health, policies should prioritize enhancing clean fuel and food access among the urban poor. The paper suggested three key policy priorities: support vulnerable households to mitigate the impacts of income loss through cash transfer or improved credit access; interventions to improve agricultural inputs supply chains to ease the pandemic’s impact on agricultural production; and support food insecure households through direct food distribution.

Keywords: Covid-19, Lockdown, Food Security, Rwanda

CITATION: Rwigema, P. C. (2021). Impact of Covid-19 lockdown on food security in Rwanda. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 8 (1), 899 – 925.