Thread by @RuthHallPLAAS

How have African governments' responses to Covid-19 impacted on food systems? And how have women in the informal economy - as fishers, farmers & traders - been affected?

Today we start a new project to investigate....

#Africanfoodsystems

plaas.org.za/african-food-s…

Watch our launch webinar here:

Webinar: Women, Covid-19 and food systems in Africa

1. How have African governments’ responses to Covid-19 affected different food systems?
2. How has this affected women in informal markets?
3. How are women responding?

First up, Refiloe Joala of @PLAASuwc highlights how South Africa is a corporate-dominated food economy - but informal street traders play a crucial role in providing affordable access to food, and support women's livelihoods in particular.... @phfiphfi

We have leading thinkers on African food systems here: Refiloe Joala & Marc Wegerif (SA), Akosua Darkwah (Ghana) & Editrudith Lukanga (Tanzania) #Africanfoodsystems

@phfiphfi @MarcWegerif @EditrudithLuka1 @editrudith

Next up, Prof Akosua Darkwah of Univ of Ghana outlines how small-scale farmers, fishers & informal traders are the backbone of the country's food system. Incomes declined by about 60% - and higher for smallest businesses. So lockdowns favoured bigger farmers & bigger shops.

Both Ghana & SA provided forms of relief to small-scale farmers & traders - in both cases, the terms of grants & loans excluded smaller micro-enterprises where women are concentrated. They had bureaucratic requirements like tax clearance certificates or registration.

Street traders were harassed by security forces in both Ghana & SA - contrary to regulations, which were eased early on to allow people to trade. So both the regulations, and their interpretation/enforcement had immediate negative impacts on women in informal sector.

The nature of the informal sector is that people have to trade daily..... Income from today buys stock for tomorrow. People were forced to spend their capital. And this isn't sustainable. Food consumption among traders has declined in Ghana, says Prof Darkwah.

Covid-19 impacts on African food system are both direct - lockdown measures that impede mobility of people and stock - but also indirect, and there are lagged effects, even as lockdown measures are lifted or eased. This is evident so far from both Ghana & SA.

Next up, Editrudith Lukanga of EMEDO, env management & eco devt org, points out that small-scale farmers in Tanzania, including coastal & on the great lakes, have lost access to markets. Men do most fishing but women's market access is key. @EditrudithLuka1 @editrudith @EsaffHQ

Different food systems & Covid-19 responses

SA had a hard & long lockdown; Ghana had a partial short-term lockdown; Tanzania had no lockdown.

SA has a highly corporatised & concentrated food system; Ghana has a mixed food system; Tanzania has a small-holder based food system.

One of the responses to Covid-19 loss of markets has been to reduce production or to re-direct food produce to different markets - eg. border closures mean lost export options for small-scale fishers but have sold into local markets.

How have women responded? What agency in women's organised and individual responses? One response has been to aggregate produce and organise collectively to transport & trade at scale. But here the biggest barrier is cellphones & data to organise.

Cross-border trade has been severely impacted by governments' Covid-19 responses. Lockdowns might be national in character but impacts are not! Women are more involved in cross-border small-scale trade, in West Africa, says Akosua.

Tanzania's small-scale fishers, farmers & traders have lost markets because of lockdowns in neighbouring countries - even though their own government hasn't taken such measures. But this has also opened doors for them to redirect food into internal markets. Complex impacts.

The loss of tourism and restaurant businesses has also affected food systems. For instance, fish trade has lost markets, even if there was no lockdown, as Editrudith points out for Tanzania. And fish being so perishable means people stopped fishing in some places.

What about alternatives? How are people developing new food markets & distribution systems during Covid-19 - and is this creating new opportunities or new inequalities?

What are the risks of the Covid-19 'new normal' for women and the food system? #Africanfoodsystems

In Ghana, the big risks are in agroprocessing, where women's roles in processing food are being replaced by larger companies run by men, with women's livelihoods under threat. This could have long-term consequences, says Akosua Darkwah of @UGLEGON. Very worrying.

Localised food systems seem more resilient to crisis than long and spatially-disparate value chains, says Refiloe Joala of @PLAASuwc. Editrudith Lukanga of EMEDO says women fishers in Tanzania are now organising to defend their markets from companies now seeking to take over.

Today's we launched our action research project on Impacts of Covid-19 Responses on the Political Economy of African Food Systems. Things have been shaken up. There are risks but also opportunities. Thanks Marc Wegerif @MarcWegerif @UPTuks for chairing this crucial conversation.

Keep an eye on our project website, as we share findings coming from our research and dialogues in Ghana, Tanzania & South Africa, and post reports, blogs, photo stories, videos. Follow #Africanfoodsystems. Thanks to @IDRC_CRDI for supporting this work. plaas.org.za/african-food-s…

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