As the world
continues to grapple with the impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic, Olam,
a leading food and agribusiness, is deploying its expansive global capability
to strengthen the livelihoods resilience of smallholder farmers in Africa.
According to a
survey conducted by Olam to evaluate the impact of the outbreak on the African
farming communities, smallholder farmers on the continent showed
vulnerabilities to the shocks and aftereffects of the global disruptions on agricultural
value chains.
The survey report
which was presented recently, during a webinar themed ‘The Impact of
COVID-19 on Farming Communities Across Africa’, in partnership with African
Business Magazine, revealed that 68 per cent of smallholder farmers reported a steep
reduction in income as compared to before COVID.
The survey gave
insights into other critical areas of the impact of COVID-19 such as production,
food security, livelihoods coping strategies and children’s rights. It exposed adverse
levels of food insecurity and locally adopted coping strategies amongst farming
communities which have given rise to less nutritious diets, increased risk of child
labour and the sale of farming and personal assets as a coping strategy.
The survey was
carried out across 19 countries among 3,432 farmers globally, among whom 1,663
were smallholder farmers located in 7 African countries.
According to
the survey report, 55 per cent of farmers surveyed in Africa said they had
produced less on their farms in the past season; 47 per cent said farm inputs
like seeds and fertilizers, were less available in the local market; 42 per
cent said it was harder to find labourers; and 55 per cent said they had less
money to afford farm inputs or hired labour.
COVID is also
impacting farmers’ ability to consume an adequate diet. Three in five surveyed farmers in Africa said
they had skipped meals recently or were eating less nutritious diets. Reasons cited included having insufficient
food stored, or their food stocks becoming spoiled or infested.
The survey
findings also pointed to worrying impacts on children’s rights, with one out of
3 African respondents (with children aged 15 and under) saying their children are
spending more time working to contribute to household income. This may be driven by a combination of
schools remaining closed, and the lower availability or affordability of farm labour.
Julie Greene,
Vice President, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Olam, stated, “Partnership
between those in the private and public sector is essential to deliver some of
the vital interventions urgently needed by African smallholder farmers, to improve
farmers access to loans, labour and farming inputs, as well as income
diversification support. Establishing a steady path to recovery will take time
for the majority of smallholders. Our survey data strongly suggests
that the scope of the actions needed to improve their outlook needs to be
far broader, deeper, and more sustained than what we may have expected a year
ago to prevent a downward spiral of economic uncertainty, low productivity, and
food insecurity.”
Highlighting
the various intervention programmes initiated by the agribusiness firm, Greene
said, “Olam is directly supporting over 500,000 smallholder farmers on the
African continent. The prevailing situations that are impacting farming
communities have forced us to be more innovative. We are deploying digital
tools to amplify our impact to help smallholder farmers gain access to vital
agronomic info and advice. These digital tools facilitate market linkages for
the farmers as well as deepening relationships along the value chain to boost
productivity and raise incomes.”
The African
agriculture value chain webinar provided an in-depth analysis of the survey
conducted by Olam. It also presented a roadmap for investment in smallholder
farmers across the continent. Debisi Araba, a member of the Malabo Montpelier
Panel, moderated the webinar panel discussion that comprised Julie Greene; Ify
Umunna, Co-CEO of Nourishing Africa; Jihane Ajijti, Head of Strategy,
Partnerships and Delivery, OCP Africa; Kagwiria Koome, Manager, Food Initiative
at the Rockefeller Foundation and Samuel Dzotefe, Regional Manager for
Agriculture and Agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa at the International Finance
Corporation (IFC).
The panelists
provided divergent perspectives and proffered solutions to the impact of the
pandemic on the livelihood of smallholder farmers across the continent.
Kwagiria Koome advocated for investment in energy infrastructure to help
smallholder farmers gain access to cold storage and rice threshing facilities.
Ify Umunna advised the government to focus more on providing “enabling policies
that are consistent, fair and engaging to help African entrepreneurs scale.”
Jihane Ajijti
said the logistic system across the African market called for an overhaul, while
advocating for fertilizer price subsidies and canvassing that the local agricultural
value chain facilities should be revamped to boost local food production.
Samuel Dzotefe echoed Jihane’s view. He emphasized infrastructural upgrade of
the transportation, communication and energy supply facilities available to
African smallholder farmers.
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