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COVID-19 Working Paper: Food Insecurity During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Four African Countries

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  • Bloem, Jeffrey
  • Michler, Jeffrey D.
  • Josephson, Anna
  • Rudin-Rush, Lorin

Abstract

This report analyzes trends in food security up to one year after the onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in four African countries. Using household-level data collected by the World Bank, this report shows differences in food security over time during the pandemic between rural and urban areas as well as between female- and male-headed households in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria. Analysis of data collected during the pandemic shows a sharp increase in food insecurity in the early months of the pandemic with a subsequent gradual decline. Additionally, this report finds that a larger increase in food insecurity occurred in rural areas relative to urban areas within each of these countries. Finally, the authors found no systemic difference in food insecurity between female-headed and male-headed households. These trends, documented amid the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, complement previous microeconomic analyses studying short-term changes in food security associated with the pandemic and macroeconomic projections based on expected changes to income, prices, and food supply.

Suggested Citation

  • Bloem, Jeffrey & Michler, Jeffrey D. & Josephson, Anna & Rudin-Rush, Lorin, 2022. "COVID-19 Working Paper: Food Insecurity During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Four African Countries," USDA Miscellaneous 323870, United States Department of Agriculture.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:usdami:323870
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.323870
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    2. Guo, Jianxin & Jin, Songqing & Zhao, Jichun & Wang, Hongbiao & Zhao, Fang, 2022. "Has COVID-19 accelerated the E-commerce of agricultural products? Evidence from sales data of E-stores in China," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
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    4. Jafarov, Jafar & Singh, Tejendra Pratap, 2024. "Harvesting Hunger: The Impact of Opium Ban on Food Security in Afghanistan," OSF Preprints bm3yw, Center for Open Science.
    5. Brunckhorst, Ben & Cojocaru, Alexandru & Kim, Yeon Soo & Kugler, Maurice, 2024. "Long COVID: The evolution of household welfare in developing countries during the pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    6. Furbush, Ann M. & Josephson, Anna & Kilic, Talip & Michler, Jeffrey D., 2025. "Coping or hoping? Livelihood diversification and food insecurity in the COVID-19 pandemic," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
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    9. Mariusz Hamulczuk & Karolina Pawlak & Daniel Sumner & Grzegorz Szafrański, 2024. "Did the COVID-19 pandemic disturb intra-EU trade in agrifood products? Evidence from a counterfactual forecasting approach," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 70(11), pages 556-564.
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