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Identifying the transmission channels of COVID-19 impact on poverty and food security in refugee-hosting districts of Uganda

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  • Margherita Squarcina
  • Donato Romano

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related restrictions implemented by the Ugandan government placed severe limitations on labor mobility, inputs availability, and market access. This negatively impacted poverty and food insecurity, especially in refugee-hosting districts, which were already suffering a fragile situation. While worsening levels of food security and dietary quality in the country have been documented by several authors, it is still unclear how the COVID-19 impact was transmitted to the final outcomes. This paper aims to identify the mechanisms through which COVID-19 affected poverty and food insecurity in refugee-hosting districts in Uganda. Starting from the two main transmission channels– i.e., food value chain disruption and job loss – we use path analysis with household fixed effects to identify the main pathways for different groups of households according to refugee status (i.e. refugee vs. host households), main income source (agricultural vs. non-agricultural households) and agricultural household’s market position (i.e. net-buyers vs. net-sellers vs. self-sufficient households). The role of responses that can offset the COVID-19 shock, such as assistance received or access to credit, and exogenous factors, such as environmental shocks or distance to market, have also been accounted for. The analysis shows that COVID-19 significantly affected labor participation and increased food value chain disruption, particularly worsening diet quality. Refugees have been affected more than hosts by the COVID-19 direct and indirect effects resulting in a higher negative impact on poverty. Host households were impacted mostly by food prices and agricultural income, while refugees were more affected through labor market mediated effects. As expected, net-buyers are the group most affected by food value chain disruption and, along with non-agricultural households, are the ones that were most affected in terms of food security.

Suggested Citation

  • Margherita Squarcina & Donato Romano, 2022. "Identifying the transmission channels of COVID-19 impact on poverty and food security in refugee-hosting districts of Uganda," Working Papers - Economics wp2022_08.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    • Handle: RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2022_08.rdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; food value chain; labor market participation; income loss.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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