Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in collaboration with partner organizations in Ethiopia published a report “Rapid country assessment: The impact of COVID-19 on the food system in Ethiopia” on key impacts of COVID-19 crisis on Ethiopia food system. The brief published in July 2020 summarizes the effects of the lockdown measures on the most vulnerable groups, gaps identified in the data analysed and in government responses to the crisis, and actions required to address short-term priorities and challenges.
Key impacts highlighted in the report included
- Impacts on the agricultural sector will affect the entire economy
- The poverty rate is increasing
- Demand for high-value perishables is shrinking
- Reduced productivity and production puts the financial sector at risk
- Youth are facing job losses
- Availability of food is not an issue (yet), affordability is…
The brief also covers population subgroups who are most vulnerable to the crisis in different ways and looks at the effect of COVID-19 in relation to food system drivers, activities and outcomes.
The rapid country assessment of Ethiopia involved representatives of the following
organisations, who provided secondary data and reviewed draft versions of this assessment: Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA); Agri-ProFocus, Agriterra, Bilateral Ethiopian-Netherlands Effort for Food, Income and Trade (BENEFIT) Partnership, BENEFIT- Sesame Business Network, BENEFIT- Integrated Seed Sector Development Ethiopia, BENEFIT Realising Sustainable Agricultural Livelihood Security in Ethiopia, Fair and Sustainable Consulting, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), ICCO/Stichting Woord en Daad, International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI), and Netherlands Development Organization (SNV).
For other WUR rapid country assessments and effects of COVID-19 on different sectors look here.
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