Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
What Africa can learn from global COVID-19 responses
When the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic at the end of January, it was expected that there would be a coordinated global response ranging from fiscal and monetary policies, to health and food policies, among other interventions.
While there may have been some coordination from a fiscal and monetary policy perspective, health and food policies have not seen a comparable level of coordination across the globe.
From a health policy perspective, government policy responses have largely been uncoordinated, with some countries implementing variable lockdowns, and others opting not to implement any lockdowns at all.
In the global north, the worst-affected countries include the US, the UK, Spain and Italy. The US and Italy have implemented state-based and regional/zonal lockdowns, while the UK and Spain have implemented nationwide lockdowns. Sweden has not implemented any lockdown measures.
The impact of the pandemic responses on food systems have been equally diverse. The impact of the closures of large agrofood processors linked to food service markets seemed particularly severe in the US, where farmers have reportedly dumped millions of litres of milk, smashed eggs, ploughed under overripe vegetables, and euthanised poultry and pigs.
Outbreaks of COVID-19 have also led to closures of some of the largest meat processing plants, including Smithfield Foods, JBS and Tyson Fresh Foods, with these three plants collectively accounting for approximately 15% of the US’s pork production.
This was triggered by the sudden collapse in demand from the commercial food system, as farmers and large processors were unable to switch quickly enough from supplying the food service and hospitality industries to the retail and household markets. Moreover, there were no supply chain relationships between farmers and the latter food systems.
In Italy, consumers moved away from perishables and fresh produce towards staples and ready-to-eat foods, which can be stored for a longer period.
The demand for flour increased 80%, canned meat 60%, canned beans 55%, and tomato sauce 22%. Meanwhile, from a supply perspective, border closures and restrictions on human movement led to shortages of seasonal workers to harvest crops and pick fruit. To address this problem, ‘green corridors’ were created between Italy and Romania to ease the movement of labourers between the two countries.
SEASONAL LABOUR CRISIS
The UK went through a similar crisis, with stay-at-home orders and restrictions on immigration leading to shortages of seasonal labour. UK farmers chartered flights to bring in Romanian fruit pickers to avert a crisis that could have led to fresh produce rotting in the field. Given the UK’s dependence on imports, which accounted for 47% of the country’s total food consumption, there were ongoing concerns about food inflation.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, which in the last week of May had the second-most COVID-19 infections after the US, different states and local governments implemented preventive measures, including closures of non-essential shops and services. However, from 20 April, several cities in Brazil had started to ease the social isolation guidelines in favour of contact tracing guidelines. The federal government, however, refused to close public institutions including schools, while private schools, colleges and universities were shut down. Brazil also closed a poultry processing plant owned by JBS SA.
Russia implemented a 10-day suspension of grain exports in late March amid supply fears, and then announced a follow-up plan to suspend grain exports for six weeks from April.
Vietnam, the world’s third-largest rice exporter, implemented an export ban in late March and set a limit on exports of 800 000t in April.
With sub-Saharan Africa a net importer of food, particularly wheat, rice, and poultry, among other key food commodities, the longevity of the pandemic poses a risk through long-term disruptions to fragile global supply chains. Therefore, countries in the region need to ensure local production of domestically grown food alternatives.