Selina Wamucii, an agricultural firm based in Africa, says the coronavirus pandemic has affected agriculture in Africa, as Millions of African smallholder farmers who grow fruits and vegetables (FFV) for export have lost market access as flights are canceled and borders restricted around the world.

According to John Oroko, CEO of Selina Wamucii, intra-Africa trade is around 2% while exports from Africa to the rest of the world range from 80% to 90% of total exports, of which a huge share is made up of agricultural produce.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately come at a time when our farmers depend largely on exports to markets outside the continent and also before the commencement of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that was scheduled to commence on July 1, 2020, thereby creating a single continental market of more than 1.3 billion people.” says the CEO.

The report also says that the border restrictions are likely to result in food waste, as perishables like milk, fruits and vegetables now have no international market. On the other hand, there is a global disruption of supply chains for essentials like  quality seeds, fertilizers and more, which are hardly accessible due to import/export restrictions in prevention of the pandemic. Overall, the report has bemoaned the negative effect that the pandemic has, on farmers and the agricultural workforce in general. “ There is great concern as to how the pandemic will impact farmers and agricultural labour across Africa. With African farmers being a relatively elderly demographic, and trends show COVID–19 has a much higher degree of severity among older age groups, so there is definitely a risk that if the pandemic hits rural Africa, many of the farmers would be at high risk and this would affect production.”

Selina Wamucii is the platform for food and agricultural produce from Africa’s agricultural cooperatives, farmers’ groups, agro-processors and other organizations that work directly with family farmers across 54 African countries.