Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Will (re)Shape Food Markets

The document analyzes the vulnerability of sub-Saharan African food systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting a heavy reliance on global imports and a lack of fiscal capacity for social protection. It details how governments primarily used interventionist market, trade, and production policies, while highlighting severe disruptions in input supply, labor, and logistics. The authors argue for a shift toward more agile governance, investment in infrastructure, and the effective implementation of regional trade agreements to build future resilience.

• Sub-Saharan Africa is highly dependent on global food markets, with an average annual food import bill of $44 billion and a food trade deficit of $2 billion, making its food security sensitive to the policy responses of major exporters like Brazil, China, India, Russia, and the US.
• Government responses in sub-Saharan Africa generally followed two interventionist patterns: market and trade policies to manage food supply (such as releasing grain via Food Reserve Agency operations) and food production policies focused on smallholder farmers through input subsidies.
• Unlike high-income regions such as the US and EU, most sub-Saharan African countries lack the fiscal capacity to provide income support or social protection to maintain food demand, leading to diminished incomes and higher food prices for consumers.
• The pandemic caused significant disruptions across the food value chain, including shortages of seeds and fertilizers, labor shortages for planting and harvesting, and logistical delays at borders that increased transport costs and compromised the quality of perishable goods.
• The informal food sector was severely impacted by government containment measures, as the closure of open-air markets restricted food access for low-income households and damaged the livelihoods of vendors, many of whom are women and youth.
• To improve future resilience, the document recommends investing in market infrastructure like cold storage and grain silos, expanding social protections for the urban poor and smallholders, and better aligning with the African Continental Free Trade Area to reduce import reliance.

APA

SIHLOBO, W., KAPUYA, T., & BASKARAN, G. (2021). Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Will (re)Shape Food Markets. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Policy-Insights-105-sihlobo-kapuya-baskaran.pdf

Chicago

SIHLOBO, WANDILE, TINASHE KAPUYA, and GRACELIN BASKARAN. Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Will (re)Shape Food Markets. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2021. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Policy-Insights-105-sihlobo-kapuya-baskaran.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=SIHLOBO |first1=WANDILE |last2=KAPUYA |first2=TINASHE |last3=BASKARAN |first3=GRACELIN |title=Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Will (re)Shape Food Markets |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=May 2021 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Policy-Insights-105-sihlobo-kapuya-baskaran.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sihlobo2021subsaharan, author = {SIHLOBO, WANDILE and KAPUYA, TINASHE and BASKARAN, GRACELIN}, title = {{Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Will (re)Shape Food Markets}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2021}, month = may, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Policy-Insights-105-sihlobo-kapuya-baskaran.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }