Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

POST COVID 19- A SILVER LINING FOR MODERNIZING GHANA’S AGRICULTURE SECTOR 

Introduction

During the COVID lockdown period it became obvious that there is a delink between food production centers (supply points) and food consumption centers (demand). Food insecurity in urban centers became heightened leading to some level of social insecurity. Even after the lockdown, food availability in city centers is still inadequate for a number of reasons including an inherent fear of infection by suppliers to urban centers and the seasonal low supplies of main staples at this time of the farming calendar. These low supplies will continue after COVID-19 for food imports including rice from Asia which contributes to 60% of national needs and meat products from Brazil and Eastern Europe due to protectionists measures likely to be adopted by producing countries whose national food securities would have affected by the pandemic. 

In the past 3 years’ data from Ministry of Food and Agriculture MOFA show that Ghana has been self-sufficient in local staples including roots and tubers and vegetables Thus the challenge is not necessarily food production (supply) but food distribution (access). However, to sustain farmers interest in increasing food production, they will have to be assured of a market; a confirmation of my proposition that “increased agriculture production is a function of market availability”

The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore opportunities to sustain current food production levels resulting from PFJ interventions by enhancing real demand through a reduction of the physical and virtual distance between food production and consumption centers.  The discussion will focus on three post-production links of the commodity value chains to sustain market opportunities and subsequent increased incomes for farmers to sustain their interest and capability in the application of improved production methods for increased productivity and subsequent sustained national food self- sufficiency in local staples The objective is two-fold

• Higher efficiency in food distribution by the private sector in Ghana.
• Improved urban food security
  • increased wealth creation
  • engendered youth employment in the agriculture sector

This paper has been developed based on observations during the COVID 19 emergency strategies outlined by the President of Ghana His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Food Aggregation and Storage

Traditionally food distribution has been managed by the private sector mainly by three major operatives’ i.e. aggregators, transporters and retailers. Though Government has the National Buffer Stock Company (NABCO) which manages public sector warehousing for grains and legumes, there is no denying the fact that most food distribution (especially roots tubers and vegetables-cassava, plantain, yams) is done by the private sector comprising mostly women who often aggregate from farmers and send them to market centers for sale to retailers for onward distribution to consumers in city centers.

On the other hand, women aggregators in the private sector do not have access to storage and haulage facilities thus reducing their ability to influence the demand required to encourage farmers increase production. Their modus operandi have been to aggregate from a number of farm families and head cart them (or use tricycles) to sides of main highways to look for transport often (Kia trucks) to bring them to urban centers to sell to retailers for onward sale to consumers.  Often the retailers buy on credit making payment only after sale of produce, a situation which reduces the ability of the aggregators to make expected quick turn-overs by holding investment in abeyance and at the mercy of the retailers. This often has a rebound effect on farmers who also have to sell their food on credit to the aggregator who depending on the location of the farm often is a monopoly and seen as a benefactor by the farmers. A study I once undertook showed that quite often aggregators defaulted in payment making farmers the ultimate losers.  The negative rebound effect also implies farmers do not receive timely returns on their investment thus reducing their production capabilities.

Coupled with this dilemma is the high operational costs which lead the aggregators who often operate on shoe-string capitals to offer the least possible prices to farmers, a further disincentive to farmers who based on the low return on investment have no option but to either reduce farm sizes or return to subsistence farming. The combined effects of poor aggregation and haulage capacities coupled with lack of storage facilities and pack houses for vegetables contribute to increasing both the physical and virtual distance between food producers and consumers a situation which does not support the transformation of Ghana agriculture from subsistence to market oriented economically viable businesses.

Recommendations

1) Reduction of distance between production and consuming centers.

The government through the Planting for Food and Jobs has succeeded in helping farmers increase their production levels these past 3years. I believe the next level of support to modernize agriculture is to transform the excess food to cash by creating markets. But this must be done through the private sector not government agencies-neither the Food Distribution Corporation and CASHPRO were self-sustaining and there is yet no indication that the NABCO is running on its own steam. Meanwhile there exists a cadre of aggregators in every region/district/community whose major constraint seem to include operational capital, haulage and storage. Meanwhile there apparently exist different sources of financing for commerce with the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), National Youth Employment (NYEP), National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) etc. that could be re-oriented towards these women traders/aggregators to increase their operational capacities and reduce their reliance on the urban retailers who often deliberately frustrate their efforts to make decent returns on their investment.

Currently women aggregators operate on individual basis and independently arrange transport to bring food into market centers. With the proposed organized collection and haulage, these women will have more reliable means of moving food and assured markets thus creating opportunities for improving the economic viabilities of their small scale businesses 

2)Haulage and Distribution

Secondly, with an increase in the feeder road networks and increased access to farm gates through the use of tricycles.  I believe there is great opportunity to create employment avenues for our youth in the rural communities. The same credit facilities as mentioned above could be extended to groups of young men and women to increase their operation capacities from the farm gate to various nodal points. From there another level of haulage packages can be facilitated to move food to market centers in the urban centers. 

3) Employment and Revenue Generation

Metropolitan, Municipal and district Assemblies (MMDAs) who depend on market tolls for the bulk of their revenues are encouraged to explore areas of facilitating the operations of private aggregators and haulers to link with identified urban market centers for the sale of commodities in which their districts have production advantages. For example, it is known that under the Planting for food and Jobs program, (PFJ) there were quantum increases in plantain production which was exported to some Sahelian countries. With the closure of borders, it is recommended that food from the Agogo and other areas in the Afram plains be redirected to Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and Cape Coast. When effectively managed, such arrangements can boost inter district trade and collaboration, timely redirect food items to where they are most needed and reduce defaults in payment to farmers thus empowering them to increase their production levels.  

The Ministry of interior could also work with transporters and the immigration service to manage food exports in support of AFCTA

4) Packaging

Finally, it was realized that the COVID-19 restriction period made demand for food in household packages quite attractive. Most middle income households and young professionals buy their food requirements on weekly basis for convenience in three main areas

• Household storage capacity
• Efficient budgeting Available cash outlay
• Efficient use of time  

To respond to this challenge, MMDAs can generate incomes through organized packaging to promote standardization in weights and measures. Young women and men under the National Builders Corps can be engaged in packaging local staples to meet the demand of such urbanites. Unfortunately, the inability to apply approved weights and measures in the sale of local staples has been a major source of revenue loss to the Ghanaian farmer. As well, MMDAs can better organize commodity locations at various market centers to reduce congestion and help meet planning and environmental standards in our food markets.

Conclusion

To every dark cloud there is a silver lining. In the past 4 years, Ghana has embarked on a comprehensive program to modernize her agriculture from subsistence to a market oriented economy with a view to transforming her hard-working farmers into agri-entrepreneurs with competitive incomes.

Whilst COVID-19 has brought considerable hardships to urban dwellers it seems our hardworking farmers are not as hard hit in their enterprises. Unfortunately, it will take a calculated effort to reward their hard work by facilitating systems that will enable them get decent returns on their investments. It is hoped the foregoing will be a wake-up call to both our public and private sector decision makers to take another look at support to the agriculture sector as a key contributor to Ghana’s GDP.   

Nana Oforiwaa Koranteng, a Development Economist, is the Principal Consultant at MIGALS Consulting Service Ltd. Her expertise is in Agriculture Policy, Food Security, Commodity Value chain development and analysis, Regional/Rural Development planning, as well as the design and use of Monitoring & Evaluation Systems

The pandemic has negatively impacted most of the value chains in Uganda if not all in way that COVID-19 came at a time when harvesting period of some crops was nearing mainly vegetables and given their perishable nature and low techniques of post harvest handling, farmers significantly made losses because accessing market during lockdown was nearly impossible, given that people were home not working even the present produce on market would completely fetch low prices due low purchasing power by consumers

In summary farmers have greatly suffered the effect of the pandemic mainly because of difficulties in transportation and Marketing.

Duration of the Current Corona Infection and Emergency Preparedness Policy Pertaining to Food and Agriculture

In our previous contribution to the present discussion, we assumed that all of us were adequately and scientifically informed about the possible duration of the present pandemic. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case. Its possible duration is critically important to an effective policy formulation and implementation. This supplementary note addresses this aspect of the issue we have covered in our previous contribution.

It is with much regret that we have to report that the ‘media’ in the ‘most advanced’ countries have made claims on the duration of the present Corona infection based purely on the assertions of ‘newspaper and television pundits’. These individuals as a group lack any professional training in virology; general physicians and specialists in other medical fields are not professionally competent to make sweeping statements on the possible duration of the present crisis. Needless to say that the comments from those engaged in other disciplines are irrelevant to our discussion.

We have now identified whose views we have to take into account and whose claims we may dismiss with profit. Let us now consider the possible duration of the present health emergency with reference to fundamental principals governing the behaviour of pathogens in general, and Corona virus in particular.

Strategy of every pathogen is governed by two principals:

• The actions of the pathogen should enable it to disseminate itself as widely as possible in order to improve its chances of survival.
• Its future survival also requires a significant increase in the pathogen population.
• However, if it were to multiply and spread without hinder, it runs the danger of exterminating its potential hosts and would thereby face extinction itself.
• Moreover, a high mortality rate among its hosts, man in the case of Corona virus, will automatically reduce its chances of wider dissemination.
• Thus, it is not in the best interest of the virus to retain its virulence as it passes from man to man.
• Nature has enable the pathogen/virus to evolve a safety measure against it exterminating a host, viz., as it passes from person to person, it looses some of virulence by the process known as attenuation. That is the infection it causes becomes less and less serious. Anyone familiar with the vaccines for viral diseases like rabies and polio would know that this is how those vaccines were developed using animals to attenuate the viruses involved.

These principals apply with undiminished force to Corona infection. Therefore, it is virologically unlikely that the present health problem would last for years. We have heard this claim from local TV pundits who have no background in infectious disease. Such spurious claims are not only irresponsible, but contribute also to the exacerbation of the current situation. Freedom of speech exercised by those free of relevant knowledge is to be deprecated.

Consider now the situation in Sweden. Counter-measures against Corona infection there were determined by an epidemiologist. These are statistician of diseases with no particular training in infectious diseases. Unfortunately, an anti-Corona strategy based on statistics can lead to disastrous results for some vulnerable groups unless a holistic approach is adopted. Indeed, this has taken place as the widely available figures show with respect to other Nordic countries.

In Sweden, the following errors of judgement have been made:

• Even though this number is limited, how many transfers from person to person it requires for Corona virus to attenuate is unknown. It has been assumed that if people were exposed to it ad libitum, this will happen quickly. This is an example of mechanical thinking based on statistics, and it is incorrect.
• It ignores the simple fact when risk of exposure is high; a high viral load can remain in the ambient long enough to infect more people among whom a greater number may be vulnerable.
• It ignores that a number of passages of the virus from person to person sufficient for it to be attenuated, can be easily achieved while the number of infected people remains small. Here, size of the population infected is irrelevant, what is relevant is the number of virus passages from person to person.

We are afraid that we have allowed us to be carried away, a common fault among those who begin to talk about their subject. Our intention is to reassure the readers that combined with the common precautions like good personal hygiene, keeping a fair distance from others, self-quarantine, avoiding crowds, etc., will soon enable us to defeat the threat posed by Corona virus. We think it is reasonable to be optimistic even though one can never know whether the really useful lessons we could have learnt from it will be learned.

Best wishes!

Lal Manavado.

English translation below

Je suis convainçu que cette pandémie continuera à sévir le monde pendant plusieurs années.

La situation sécuritaire alimentaire et de la nutrition dans le monde,et en afrique en particulière reste un cheval de bataille.

Les politiques africaines doivent revoir leurs strategies sur les investisements, les productions, les transformations et les marchés des produits alimentaires, surtout de prémières nécessités .

Il est urgent que les dirigeants Africains puissent repenser sur:

• la bonne gouvernance;
• le partage équitable des ressources naturelles;
• la justice

Certes le COVID-19 serait partie de notre environnement comme le SIDA, la tuberculose; en dehors des getes barrières , je propose 3 regles d'or dans notre façon d'être et de faire:

• l'adaptation ( parcequ'on doit apprendre de vivre avec);
• l'atteinuation ( parcequ'il faut reduire la propagation);
• la résilience ( car la vie ne s'arrête pas avec le COVID-19, il faut resister pour continuer à vivre).

I am convinced that this pandemic will continue to plague the world for several years.

The food and nutrition security situation in the world, and in Africa in particular, remains a priority.

African politicians must review their strategies on investments, production, processing and markets for food products; especially basic necessities.

It is urgent that African leaders rethink the following:

• good governance;
• equitable sharing of natural resources;
• Justice

COVID-19 would certainly be part of our environment like AIDS, tuberculosis; apart from barrier gestures at the indivudual level I propose 3 golden rules to guide action:

• adaptation (because you have to learn to live with it);
• mitigation (because it is necessary to reduce the spread);
• resilience (because life does not stop with COVID-19, you have to resist in order to continue living).

This interesting FSN debate on Covid-related interruptions along the food value chain shows the need for more research: Are the measures taken pro-trade or trade restrictive, and why? How can national policy responses include cooperation and efforts to regulate the overseas production of MNEs.

This Webinar at the World Trade Institute (WTI) on “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Trade in Agricultural and Food Products” will examine issues and challenges raised by recent experience:

26 June 2020 (Friday), 16:30 European Standard Time

Chair: Peter Van den Bossche, Director of Studies WTI

Panelists:

Joseph Glauber (Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, D.C., and former Chief Economist of USDA)

Christian Häberli (WTI Fellow, University of Bern)

Lee-Ann Jackson (Head of Division, Agro-food Trade and Markets, OECD)

Alan Matthews (Professor Emeritus of European Agricultural Policy, Trinity College Dublin)

The format is part roundtable, part general discussion. Participation requires registration. To register, please email [email protected]

(Virtual) space is limited!

Does Free Food Trade Enhance Global Food Security?

According to Mr. Christian Häberli, the answer to our question seems to be resounding “yes!” We quote below the relevant part of his contribution to the present discussion:

“Other news is less good, under a global welfare enhancement free-trader philosophy – and in a poor and mainly importing

 Developing country perspective. “Go local” is not only a necessity, or a simple “confined consumer” preference; it now comes under the ominous name of “shortening supply chains” and is actively promoted by governments wanting to add local value, at the expense of their consumers and of more efficient producers abroad. This rings a bell for those having to reckon with, for example, “America first” or “strategic sovereignty for facemasks” politicians. For staple food, and regardless of their WTO-compatibility or impact on foreign suppliers, such trade and investment measures may well increase what some other idealists call “food sovereignty” but which, in more sober terms, might well end the vital contribution of trade to global food security.”

We note with some disquiet two terms he has used here, “ominous” and “vital contribution.” There are two points we need to clarify before we can ascertain whether Mr. Häberli’s claims are justified. We shall now take them up in turn.

First, what do we mean by global food security? Obviously, it is the presence in the real world certain state of affairs pertaining to food. When it obtains, people in the world are enjoying a sustainable supply of wholesome food they require for a varied and balanced diet at “an affordable price”in accordance with their own food culture.

As we have said time after time, all human cultures have developed their own food culture in accordance with the climatic, geographic and soil conditions of where they live. Furthermore, even animals display food preferences; for instance, camels in South Central Arabia used to display a distinct preference to thorn bushes rather than gorging themselves on more nutritious Lucerne.

Most humans derive pleasure and enjoyment from their food, and meal times are often social occasions. Of course, there are aberrations like drunkenness and ‘working lunches’, but these are in a disagreeable minority. Many cultures are proud of their culinary traditions, and food culture includes the most suitable crops and animals to a given area.

Food culture and culinary enjoyment are an integral part of the culture of a people; hence, it is a part of their cultural patrimony and nobody has any right to traduce it for spurious reasons motivated by personal gain.

Secondly, throughout the world, vast majority of the people need to buy their food; this requires them to have a sufficient income for the purpose. If they do not, “free trade in food” may make the food “accessible” to them in shops in large enough quantities, but food in the shop and no money in the pocket will hardly contribute to food security.

In most poor countries and in the poor areas of those countries where some social groups are affluent and others not, the following conditions obtain:

•  A significant percentage of those poor are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Cheap food imports would deprive them of their already meagre livelihood.
• High unemployment is common among the poor social groups.
•  Their education and acquired skill levels are low.
•  Under these circumstances, “free trade in food” will only benefit the affluent social groups provided that such trade does not contravene the country’s food culture.
• Hence, “free trade in food” makes no contribution whatsoever to the food security of the poor unemployed or those engaged in agricultural pursuits.
• As it will be shown below, it will indeed make them even less secure with respect to food while the affluent seem to display a higher incidence of obesity among them precisely due to “free food trade” in highly processed factory foods either as direct imports, or using monoculture in a host country to manufacture such.
• “Free food trade” permits the establishment, operation and sales of factory foods in poor countries by the multi-national firms. They resort to monoculture and capital-intensive food production in order to ‘maximise’ their profits. This will deprive poor farm workers employment opportunities because the capital-intensive methods depend greatly on mechanisation and on very little human labour. Moreover, such farm workers are not adept at using the equipment used in the kinds of factory farms now operating in poor countries. Personnel employed there come exclusively from cities.
• Therefore, it is clear that “free trade in food” will have the most deleterious effect on the already precarious food security among the millions of the poor distributed throughout the world.
• As the sustenance farmers in poor countries or in the rural areas of the affluent ones are squeezed out of their livelihood by the “free food trade” it would increase the people’s migration into cities adding to the social problems it entails., If one is willing not to depend on impressive documented ‘facts’ and visit the slums circling “economic miracles cities” where millions survive, one will clearly understand that they can never earn enough to experience any food security.
•  And such cities are in countries where “free food trade” is rife.
• Furthermore, spread of monoculture consequent to “free food trade” has significantly contributed to global climate change due to deforestation it entails, soil salination owing to imprudent use of fertilisers, extinction of pollinators and other beneficial animals due to extensive use of biocides, etc. Even though it was ignored, it was noted long ago when Amazons forest was cut down to ‘create’ grazing land for cattle for US ‘Hamburger’ market.
• The local food culture of a place has risen through trial and error for a long period. True, some such traditions are harmful, but a majority of them involve animals and plants best suited to a locale and have least deleterious effects on our environment. “Free food trade” poses an unacceptable threat to this good practise.

Thus, “free food trade” as it is practised today does not contribute to an enhanced food security to the already deprived, nor does it contribute to public health with respect to rising NCD’s. Moreover, it contributes to the already serious environmental degradation.  Hence, “free food trade” as it is practised today is to be deprecated, and opposition to it encouraged.

Best wishes!

Lal Manavado.

First of all, the entire country of Morocco was place on lockdown from Mid-March. Presently, the country has gradually started lifting the restrictions by dividing the country into two geographic zones depending on case density per region.

With regards to local food production, I can say that the Moroccan Government put in excellent measures to ensure that there was more than enough adequate supply during the lockdown period. Even during the period of Ramadan, where most households buy more food items, there was enough food for the period. The Moroccan government took hold of the sector, provided incentives to enable food and dairy producers to produce enough quantity of food without compromising on quality. 

There were still bottlenecks. This year's overall yield in cereals was very low. The government in response to this, is considering an application to scrape import duties for cereal products since the country is given little choic than to import more cereals. 

Other areas like fruits and vegetables actually enjoyed great success. There was enough for the Moroccan market. There is the demand to export fruits to some EU Countries. The only bottleneck was that most of these exports were done by road. The restrictions and the administrative delays in treating some processes may have increased costs of these exported products. It also may have had dire consequences of perishable goods. Allbeit, local prices of food across Morocco was well regulated by the government as it supersvised strictly and applied sanctions to ensure that local retailers did not hike food prices.

In all, the positives of the Moroccan response could serve as best practice that could be emulated by other countries.

Kamalnayan Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation in Wardha district of Maharashtra, India has extended training, seed and monitoring support to 7000 farmers since 2013  The most crucial step was to develop direct consumer linkages and profitable market linkages for the farmers covered. The focused efforts were made to develop forward linkages at district, block as well as village level to fulfil the objective.

Every year we used to organize Grain Festival at Wardha town for developing direct consumer linkages for the farmers practicing natural farming. This year the event could not be organized due to COVID - 19 restrictions. The positive signs that we could notice this year are quite encouraging. The consumers directly contacted  farmers participated every year in the Grain Festival for purchase of grains and pulses and other processed products. The team of Bajaj Foundation facilitated decentralized cleaning, grading and transportation processes. They also intervened in deciding marketing rates. The farmers supplied the demand at door steps during locked down situations.

The efforts resulted in strengthening direct consumer linkages for 4344 farmers. They sold 19 varieties of agriculture produce and recorded total business of Rs.4.75 Cr. Besides seed of amount Rs.18 .50 lakh has been exchanged by Bajaj Foundation among the farmers to resolve the seed availability issues.

Market for perishable commodity that is vegetables and fruits has been established for farmers by arranging mobile vegetable selling vehicle  The people have been convinced for purchase of poison free vegetables.

Such kind of efforts need to replicated with the support of Gram Panchayat or village institutions to overcome the impact of COVID - 19 outbreak on food value chains.

First, allow me to share the “relatively good news” in these difficult times (don’t we all need a break from bad news?).

The Covid-19 fallout on agrifood trade is so far quite limited! The WTO Secretariat has established a new Website “Covid-19 and world trade” (https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/covid19_e/trade_related_goods_measure_e.htm). For perhaps the first time, it consists not only of government notifications (actually, extremely scarce). Most measures listed in the field of merchandise trade were actually notified or found by other organisations and in internet searches. By 12 June 2020, and of a total of 199 Covid-related entries, only six trade restrictive measures concern foodstuffs, in the form of export bans or quotas, or export licensing (in order to ensure local food availability). As many measures are actually facilitating trade (tariff waivers, VAT elimination, exemption from weight control of food transporting vehicles). All measures are temporary, and at least one has already been lifted (adjournment of new export licensing).

Other news is less good, under a global welfare enhancement free-trader philosophy – and in a poor and mainly importing developing country perspective. “Go local” is not only a necessity, or a simple “confined consumer” preference; it now comes under the ominous name of “shortening supply chains” and is actively promoted by governments wanting to add local value, at the expense of their consumers and of more efficient producers abroad. This rings a bell for those having to reckon with, for example, “America first” or “strategic sovereignty for facemasks” politicians. For staple food, and regardless of their WTO-compatibility or impact on foreign suppliers, such trade and investment measures may well increase what some other idealists call “food sovereignty” but which, in more sober terms, might well end the vital contribution of trade to global food security.

Another hurdle for food aid providers has had a too long life. Despite the calls by the Directors-General of FAO, WHO and WTO, food export bans apply even to the procurement of international food aid by the WFP or the ICRC. When you remember the G8 and G20 endorsements and commitments for a (WTO) prohibition of such bans, back in the food crisis 2007-09, you wonder what kind of pandemic is needed if even Covid-19 cannot bring governments to listen to the world’s best economists that these export restrictions are bad for their own farmers.

Governance is hard to come by in a crisis. Nevertheless, perhaps we can still learn lessons before the next global crisis hits our screens?

English translation below

2) Quel a été l'impact des mesures adoptées pour faire face à la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les exportations de denrées alimentaires et de cultures de rente ?  

Les mesures adoptées dans notre pays le Togo, a permis d'assurer un minimum d'exportation. Néanmoins  notons que la situation reste critique puisque même si les mesures sont soulagées ici il faut aussi que le pays destinataire accepte aussi de suivre cette dynamique. 

3) Quel a été l'impact des mesures adoptées pour faire face à la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les importations d'ingrédients alimentaires, d'intrants, de conditionnements et d'autres biens liés à la chaîne de valeur alimentaire?  

Les importations terrestres quant à elles ont continuées. La mesure a assuré que les approvisionnement se fassent toujours du moins des pays qui ont bien voulu continuer. 

4) Comment cette pandémie et les mesures d'intervention ont-elles affecté la logistique, du niveau national au niveau local?  

Les transports ont été interdits entre les localités, mais une exception a été faite sur la chaîne de valeur ce qui permettait de faire les approvisionnements.  Néanmoins, la situation logistique joue sur la disponibilité des produits. 

5) Quelles ont été les répercussions sur le commerce transfrontalier informel? 

Le commerce transfrontalier informel a pris plus de la valeur, puisque c'était le seul moyen de pouvoir aller de part et d'autre sans pouvoir se faire prendre.

2) What has been the impact of measures to face the COVID-19 pandemic on the exports of food and cash crops

The measures adopted in our country, Togo, ensured a minimum of exports. However, it should be noted that the situation remains critical since even if the measures are relieved here, the recipient country must also agree to follow this dynamic.

3) What has been the impact of measures to face the COVID-19 pandemic on the imports of food ingredients, inputs, packaging and other goods related to the food value chain?

Land imports continued. The measure has ensured that supplies are always made at least from countries that have agreed to continue.

4) How have logistics from the national to the local level been impacted by the pandemic and response measures?

Transport was prohibited between localities, but an exception was made on the value chain which made it possible to obtain supplies. However, the logistics situation affects the availability of products.

5) What have been the implications on informal cross-border trade?

Informal cross-border trade gained more value, since it was the only way to be able to go to both sides without being caught.