Thread by @PLAASuwc

NEW SHORT FILM: How did COVID-19 affect the food system in #Tanzania?

Our research teams found out, in three market centres: the coastal city of Dar es Salaam, the tourist cross-border hub of Arusha, and Mwanza on Lake Victoria. #Africanfoodsystems

Here are the stories of market traders, truckers, fishers and farmers in #Tanzania. Even without restrictions under President #Magafuli, #Covid_19 had big effects on the people producing & selling food.

See our short film released today. @arusonews

As a woman in market said "Tanzania was not in lockdown but people locked themselves inside".

Declining domestic markets combined with border closures loss of exports and rising prices of imports disrupted the country's #FoodSystems

@esulle46 @LKissoly @EMEDO19 @EsaffHQ

The food system conveyed the urban effects of #Covid_19 to rural areas:

"Because we buy produce from farmers who transport it to the city, we are connected. Now that business is struggling in the city it means they are also struggling" - a woman at Mabibo market in #DaresSalaam

Truckers explained how perishable food went to waste - and they carried the risk between farm and market. Long queues of trucks stopped at #Tanzania's borders, for instance with Kenya, had a ripple effect on all those producing it - including #farmworkers and #farmers. @IDRC_CRDI

#Covid_19 had complex effects on the food system in Tanzania: prices for imported items like cooking oil spiked, along with 'superfoods' like ginger, garlic and lemons - while prices for fruit, veg & fish for the tourist trade plummeted.

The women who process and trade fish on the shores of Lake Victoria, from Mwanza to neighbouring countries, were also hit hard. Those with resources and skill moved onto online platforms, mobile money and delivery platforms. But these were the better-off.
#Africanfoodsystems

Crises and shocks like #Covid_19 and #ClimateCrisis reinforce inequalities on #Africanfoodsystems.
Government crisis responses should listen to the needs and priorities of the people who produce, transport and sell food. See our film on #Tanzania here.

NEW FILM: Our neoliberalised economies shaped the outcomes of #Covid_19 in #Africanfoodsystems. As rural & urban people struggle for survival, we should learn from the intensely political government responses.

#Tanzania
@IssaShivji @RuthHallPLAAS

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