Regional impact of COVID-19 on the production and food security of common bean smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implication for SDG's

Concerns about the implications of COVID-19 on agriculture and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa abound. Containment measures in response to the pandemic have markedly different outcomes depending on the degree of enforcement of the measures and the existing vulnerabilities pre-COVID. In this descriptive study, we document the possible impacts of the pandemic on bean production and food security using data collected from March to April 2020 in eleven countries in four sub-regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The results reveal that COVID-19 created significant bean production challenges across the sub-regions, including low access to seed, farm inputs, hired labor, and agricultural finance. We also show that COVID-19 threatens to reverse gains made in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals number 1 and 2. Countries in Southern and Eastern Africa are likely to suffer temporal food shortages than those in Western and Central Africa. Although governments have responded by offering economic stimulus packages, much needs to be done to enable the sub-sector to recover from ruins caused by the pandemic. We recommend building sustainable and resilient food systems through strengthening and enabling public-private partnerships. Governments should invest directly in input supply systems and short food supply chains through digital access and food delivery

Beyond beans: examining the effects of COVID 19 on other food value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa

The pandemic has disrupted input supply systems in almost all countries studied, causing low use of yield enhancing techologies such as improved seed and inorganic fertilizer. Measures put in place to curb transmission of the deadly virus have created labour shortages of workers at farm level and business level leading to higher labour prices. The functioning of the food supply chains have been disrupted by COVID-19 containment measures causing low prices in production hubs and high food prices in urban and peri-urban areas. The pandemic threatens the already dire food security situation in Eastern and Southern Africa

COVID-19 challenges to sustainable food production and consumption: Future lessons for food systems in eastern and southern Africa from a gender lens

Despite fears that sub-Sahara Africa would be severely impacted by COVID-19, the implications of the pandemic on sustainable production and consumption have not been studied in detail. Notwithstanding, implications vary depending on country, region, and strictness of coronavirus containment measures. Thus, the impact of COVID-19 on food and nutritional security was expected to be dire in sub-Saharan Africa because of its enormous reliance on global food systems. This article explored the implications of COVID-19 on sustainable production and consumption by focusing on common beans, vegetables, fish, and fruits produced and consumed in rural, peri-urban and urban areas. Two surveys were conducted to collect quantitative data from 619 producers in rural areas and 307 consumers from peri-urban and urban areas of ten Eastern and Southern African countries. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and chi-square test for independence were used to analyse the data. The results show that the pandemic disrupted bean production and consumption across the two sub-regions. However, Southern African farmers and consumers were disproportionately more affected. While farmers in Eastern Africa reported input market challenges, those in Southern Africa identified challenges related to marketing farm produce. We also report that home gardening in urban and peri-urban areas enhanced urban food systems’ resilience to the impacts of the pandemic on food security. The study argues that short food supply chains can sustain rural and urban livelihood against adverse effects of the pandemics and contribute towards sustainable production and consumption. Therefore, local input and food distribution models and inclusive institutional and legal support for urban agriculture are crucial drivers for reducing food and nutritional insecurity, poverty, and gender inequality. They are also critical to supporting sustainable production and consumption

Immediate impacts of COVID-19 measures on bean production, distribution, and food security in eastern Africa

The outbreak of coronavirus was expected to adversely affect African countries more than any other region in the world. This assertion was based on the existing conditions in sub-Saharan Africa that exposed the region to the dire consequences of the pandemic. Previously existing underlying conditions that affected the food system include a high dependence on trade for inputs supply, the adverse effects of climate change, crop pests and diseases, poverty, low input use, weak institutions and ineffective poli­cies, and insecurity and conflicts. We collected data from farmers, aggregators, bean research coordina­tors, and urban and peri-urban consumers in five Eastern African countries in order to describe the immediate impacts of the pandemic on the bean value chain. Access to seed and labor appear to be the most critical impacts of the pandemic on bean production. There are observable differences in patterns and frequency of bean consumption in these regions, suggesting that the effect of the pandemic depends on the level of implementation of containment measures and pre–COVID-19 underlying conditions that affect the food systems. In the mid to long-term, the pandemic may disrupt food systems, resulting in hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity. Thus, governments should support farmers and businesses in becoming resilient to exogenous shocks through increased efficiency in supply chains, capacity building, and the adoption of modern digital technology

Status review of challenge, constraints and needs of men, women, and youth enterprises in the bean value chain in selected countries

Common bean is the most grown legume in sub-Saharan Africa and contributes to income and food security of smallholder farmers. The common bean value chain offers business opportunities to various actors, particularly women because of their high involvement in production and marketing. The value chain has the potential to contribute to SDGs if opportunities are harnessed through developing and supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, challenges and constraints undermine the contribution of the common bean to livelihoods and incomes of actors along the chain. Key challenges are low use of improved seed, weak market linkages, lack of machinery and equipment, limited access to credit by value chain actors, context-specific barriers that undermine women and youth involvement, and lack of storage facilities. These challenges highlight needs for men, women, and youth entrepreneurs. The Improving Bean Production and Marketing in Africa (IBPMA) project responded to the challenges faced by farmers and entrepreneurs in common bean value chain in 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa through innovative programs. PABRA used the corridor approach to implement the project. This desk review was conducted to identify needs of men, women, and youth enterprises in bean value chain in countries targeted by the IBPMA project. Specifically, the report aimed to: • Identify types of challenges and constraints experienced at different stages of the common bean value chain in six selected countries in the nine PABRA bean corridors. • Better understand gender differences in challenges experienced by entrepreneurs at different stages of the common bean value chain. • To identify areas of need for men and women entrepreneurs that are central to improving the performance and sustainable growth of bean enterprises. The review reveals challenges and constraints experienced by men, women, and youth entrepreneurs and SMEs across bean corridors. Financial, technical, capacity, technological and context-specific challenges impede performance and growth of entrepreneurs and SMEs. There is need for interventions in these areas to support SMEs and individual entrepreneurs and strengthen competitiveness of bean value chains

Gender and social inclusivity analysis in the common bean seed system in Burundi

Increasing agricultural productivity, food security and nutrition require inclusive seed systems that delivers quality seed to farmers. However, seed systems development in sub-Saharan Africa often focuses on needs of the large commercial producers, rather than the needs of the smallholder farmers, especially women. This study assessed gender issues in Burundi's seed common bean seed sector to generate gender-specific indicators that can guide development of inclusive seed systems. The results indicated that despite women allocating more land areas to bean varieties, they had limited array of sources of seed and accessed lower volumes of seed from formal outlets. Increasing access to agricultural extension services and training for women, ensuring that women farmers have access to quality seed varieties, providing access to financial services, such as credit and loans, for women farmers, and increasing access to markets for women farmers could enable Burundi seed systems to become more gender inclusive

Sustainability of the agri-food supply chain amidst the pandemic: Diversification, local input production, and consumer behavior

This chapter shows how sustainability in agri-food supply chains has been hampered or enhanced during the pandemic. We demonstrate this by applying pathways that producers and consumers in sub-Saharan Africa pursued during the pandemic, as Schmitt et al. (2016) argued. The chapter focuses primarily on two Sub-regions in sub-Saharan Africa: Eastern and Southern Africa. The data used are drawn from a survey conducted by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture in collaboration with National agricultural research partners in nine countries. Six countries in Eastern Africa countries; Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, and three countries in Southern Africa; Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Because of small samples per country and acknowledgment that they are not representational of the status of agri-food systems’ sustainability in the focus countries, we classify them as cases and present them under different sustainability themes: localized input supply and food system sustainability, diversification and Resilience, and consumer behavior

Exploring inclusiveness of vulnerable and marginalized people in the cassava value chain in the Lake Region, Kenya

Vulnerable and marginalised groups (VMGs) who comprise widows, orphans, people living with disability and HIV, have not been given sufficient attention in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by policy makers, development partners, research, and extension, yet they comprise nearly one-quarter of all smallholder farmers. This study explored inclusion of VMGs in cassava value chain in the Lake Region of Kenya. Formal survey, focus group discussions (FGD), and key informant interviews (KIIs) were used to collect data from VMGs, common interest groups (CIGs) and stakeholders in the cassava value chain. The results showed that the majority of VMG farmers were women, mainly widows, orphans, people living with HIV, and difficulty in mobility. Compared to CIGs, there were significant differences (P 0.05) in access to value chain support services.  Key barriers reinforcing marginalization were policy, socio economic and technological in nature.   It is argued that affirmative action that aims to reach the marginalised farmers and actors in cassava value chain should entail national and institutional policy frameworks to enhance visibility and involvement of VMGs in technology development and innovation as well as in the design and implementation of projects geared towards improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers. The findings of this study suggest the need for mapping and assessing VMGs for targeted value chain institutional support to access inputs, training, financing and market linkages in order to close gaps in cassava production and marketing.  It is concluded that the cassava value chain in the Lake Region is less inclusive for VMGs. Thus, the study recommends affirmative action and establishment of a platform for VMG farmers to increase their voice in decision making

Gender-responsive participatory variety selection in Kenya: Implications for common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) breeding in Kenya

Participatory variety selection (PVS) is the selection of new varieties among fixed lines by farmers under different target environments. It is increasingly being used to select and promote new crop breeding materials in most African countries. A gender-responsive PVS tool was piloted in Embu and Nakuru in the first and second cropping seasons of 2019 to understand similarities and differences between men’s and women’s varietal and trait preferences for biofortified released varieties and local bean varieties (landraces). Pooled results indicate that varietal and trait preferences between men and women farmers were slightly different but followed gendered roles and division of labor. Women farmers have a higher preference for landraces compared to men due to their availability, affordability and accessibility. Preferences for bean varieties differed between men and women across the two counties. High yielding was the most prioritized trait by both men and women for Mwitemania, Nyota, and Angaza. The findings support the long-held assumption that men prefer market-oriented traits, but women have a greater range of concerns thus less market oriented than men. For Nyota, men’s preferences were shaped by market traits, while women’s preferences were based on the variety being early maturing, resistant to pests and diseases, marketable, and fast cooking. For other varieties, men preferred Mwitemania because it is high yielding, early maturing, resistant to pests and diseases, and marketable. In contrast, women preferred Mwitemania because of seed availability, fast cooking, and early maturing. However, men’s and women’s varietal preferences for Angaza were similar, with them reporting early maturing, resistance to pests and diseases, and marketability as attractive traits. Sociodemographic characteristics such as education, age, marital status, and land ownership underlined the differences in trait preferences. Despite having attractive traits for both men and women, Nyota increased drudgery, displaced women from their usual activities, and required additional inputs by women, signaling possible adoption tradeoffs. However, Nyota, Angaza, and Mwitemania can provide the opportunity to increase employment for women. This study calls for gender integration at the design stage of any breeding system to ensure men and women farmers have access to varieties they prefer for food and income generation

Analysis of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) trade in Cameroon: A trader's perspective of preferred varieties and market traits

Common beans contribute towards enhancing food and nutritional security in developing countries. Producing the right varieties entails that the interest of all value chain actors, like traders (wholesalers, retailers, and aggregators), are considered in developing breeding priorities to meet local and export market demand. However, there is little or no information on traders' perspectives regarding the preferred common bean traits and variety; hence, this study sought to fill the gap. This study aimed to analyse common bean trade in Cameroon by focusing on the trader's perspective of preferred varieties and market traits. A market survey was conducted in August 2021. Four regions of Cameroon (Adamawa, Centre, West, and Littoral) were purposively selected based on accessibility, and high concentration of bean traders and are considered the major bean distribution and consumption hubs. A two-stage random sampling was then used to select 175 traders. Data was gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire and analysed descriptively using Excel and STATA 14 software. The results indicated that 80% of bean trade was with Gabon and Congo. The majority of the sampled traders were men, as more men are involved in the bean business. Also, the majority of the traders did not participate in contract farming arrangements. Two market classes of beans were popular: red and white beans. The red beans were popular in the market probably due to good market traits such as affordability, good taste, high yield and early maturity. White bean market class was popular in the export market. Conversely, the black bean market class was the least preferred in the market. The most preferred market traits for improved common beans were good taste and acceptability by buyers. White beans fetched the highest wholesale (1.72 USD) and retail (1.41 USD) prices per kg on the market. Conversely, black beans fetched the lowest wholesale (0.8 USD) and retail (0.75 USD) prices per kg on the market. We recommend that common bean breeders should involve traders as important stakeholders whose market intelligence can be useful in developing improved bean varieties, which are demand-driven. Also, governmental and non-governmental agencies should promote improved common bean varieties to enhance productivity that meets the high demand in local and export markets. Besides, they should promote traders' participation in contract farming arrangements to enhance the steady supply of improved common beans on the market