Impact of COVID-19 on food value chains in Uganda: Results of surveys of farmers, traders, and processors
COVID-19对乌干达食品价值链的影响：农民、贸易商和加工商的调查结果
- 关键词：
- 来源：
- 国际食品政策研究所IFPRI
- 类型：
- 行业报告
- 语种：
- 英语
- 原文发布日期：
- 2022-01-01
- 摘要：
- We examined the impact of COVID-19 on food value chains in Uganda, using the case of dairy and maize value chains. These two are important value chains in Uganda (in terms of contribution to food and nutrition security and export earnings), yet distinct in terms of terms of market orientation, organization, degree of vertical coordination and institutional setup.We used sample lists of farmers, traders and processors interviewed in-person by IFPRI before COVID-19 in November 2018 (dairy) and July 2019 (maize), as the basis for follow-up interviews by phone during COVID-19 in November 2020 (round 1) and May/July 2021 (round 2). The round 1 and round 2 surveys sought to: (1) determine the proportion of value chain actors that had exited operations since the start of the pandemic; and then (2) examine changes in business activity and welfare among actors that continued to operate. We compare changes between baseline (2018/2019) and round 1 (2020), and, between round 1 (2020) and round 2 (2021), to differentiate between short run effects and long run consequences of the pandemic.In the maize value chain, we find that the impact of COVID-19 and associated measures manifests itself more downstream the value chain (at the level of the traders and particularly the millers). Closures and reductions in volumes passing through the chain seemed limited but worsen as the pandemic persists. Government measures such as a reduction of interest rates seemed to have brought some relief for traders and millers. However, all value chain actors report substantial reductions in maize revenues, household income and food security, as actors in informal value chains seem to rely on various activities to make ends meet. As a result, informal value chains such as maize in Uganda may be less able to adapt to common shocks in the long run. The appropriate policy response therefore would be to supplement some of the mitigating policies targeting businesses with more long run social protection policies to also benefit value chain actors upstream.In the dairy value chain, we find that the COVID-19 crisis mainly affected actors through a reduction in demand due to restrictions that limited international trade, and a decrease in local consumption. As a result, prices drastically reduced at all nodes of the value chain, and the number of actors affected by the price decrease worsened as the pandemic persisted. In general, we see that while dairy business closures during COVID-19 are limited, the joint reduction in demand and price leads to widespread reductions in scale of operation, dairy revenues and household income, although these somewhat recover over time, especially among Milk Collection Centers. In the long-run, policy efforts to increase and stabilize local and export demand for dairy products seems most promising. For example, the government may institute policies that promote consumption of dairy products in schools and homes through information campaigns or temporary dairy vouchers. Government should also make it a priority to keep international trade flowing. Finally, the study did not confirm the hypothesis that high-value commodity markets would be more adversely affected than staple value chains. Although companion studies in Bangladesh found that fish and shrimp markets were more adversely affected than those of rice, the staple, the reverse was true in Uganda. Uganda maize farmers, traders, and processors reported worse economic and welfare outcomes due to COVID-19 than their counterparts in the dairy value chain. This may be related to the fact that dairy sup-ply chains are more structured than maize chains.
- 所属专题：
- 66
