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Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian StudiesFaculty of Economic and ManagementSciences University of the Western Cape Private Bag X17 Bellville 7535

Charity Rusere

YARA WORKING PAPER 13

Impact of Covid-19 onVegetable Production andMarketing in Zimbabwe:Challenges and Opportunities

OCTOBER 2021

Young African Researchers in Agriculture(YARA) Working Paper 13: Impact of Covid-19on Vegetable Production and Marketing inZimbabwe: Challenges and Opportunities

The PLAAS and YARA Working Papers are designed toshare work in progress. Please send any suggestions orcomments on this paper to Charity Rusere atcdangwa@gmail.com

©Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies,University of the Western Cape, October 2021.

Author: Charity Rusere

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IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON VEGETABLE PRODUCTION AND

MARKETING IN ZIMBABWE: CHALLENGES AND

OPPORTUNITIES

For the Young African Researchers in Agriculture (YARA) research on:

COVID-19, Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Africa: Impacts, Responses and Implications for

the Future

C. Rusere

2021

i

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1

2.0 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................... 2

3.0 Study Design, Data and Methods...................................................................................... 3

3.1 Study design and data ..................................................................................................... 3

3.2 Methods and Assumptions .............................................................................................. 4

4.0 Impact of Covid-19 on Vegetable Production and Marketing ....................................... 5

4.1 Impact on production ...................................................................................................... 5

4.2 Impact on marketing ....................................................................................................... 9

5.0 Responses and Implications for the Future ................................................................... 14

6.0 Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 16

7.0 References ......................................................................................................................... 18

ii

List of Tables

Table 1: Comparison of vegetable prices before and after the pandemic ..................................... 13

List of Figures

Fig 1: Conceptual framework of the production and marketing demand and supply before and

during the pandemic ........................................................................................................................ 3

Fig 2: Percentage of farmers that adjusted their area cropped and growing cycles ........................ 7

Fig 3: Number of cabbage heads planted over the period 2020 ...................................................... 8

1

1.0 Introduction

The world suddenly suffered the detrimental effects of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19)

pandemic. The pandemic, which proved to be a multi-dimensional issue, not only negatively

affected the health sector globally, but also the social, economic and the political sectors. The

Covid-19 negatively affected the global food systems which fundamentally came down to two

processes – i) it caused an economic recession with companies going bankrupt and many people

losing their jobs and losing/reducing incomes; ii) disruptions in the food supply systems. The

impact of the pandemic affected many sectors including the food and agricultural sectors. The

impact was heterogenous, affecting different food systems differently in different environments.

Disruptions occurring within food systems created supply and demand shocks that negatively

affected the agriculture sector’s immediate and long-term economic functioning and food security

status.

To prevent and control Covid-19, the Zimbabwean government, just like other countries globally,

adopted some mitigating measures beginning March 2020 to curb the spread of the infectious

disease. In mid-March 2020, the government announced the Covid-19 outbreak as a national

emergency and introduced travel restrictions and ban of large gatherings. Later in the month, more

restrictions were introduced including the closure of national borders, restricting non-essential

travel. Social, entertainment and sporting facilities were closed during the same period to control

movement leading to a nationwide national lockdown on 27 March 2020. After then, different

phases were experienced during the year until March 2021 when the Zimbabwean government

eased the restrictions due to a reported reduction in the number of new infections. The different

measures were employed at different phases dependant on the spread of the coronavirus. These

included a mix of the enforcement of national lockdowns, prohibition/limitation of gatherings,

2

implementation of nationwide curfews and the restriction of interprovincial and intercity travel

among others.

Daily necessities such as fresh vegetables experienced a serious knock on the production and

marketing sides due to these sudden changes highlighting the vulnerability of the sector. Covid-

19 resulted in both production and marketing risks for farmers. These negatively affected farmers’

yields and output on the production side. The marketing risks resulted in farmers losing markets

or they received lower prices for their agricultural produce. The pandemic, which hugely affected

the health sector, saw an introduction in movement restrictions hence highly affecting production

costs at production phase, logistical movement and a reduction in sales volumes and prices at the

marketing phase. This study provides a descriptive analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on the

production and marketing of vegetable produce in Goromonzi district, Zimbabwe through a

miniature survey of small-scale farmers. From this point of the document, I will use the term small-

scale farmers and farmers interchangeably.

2.0 Conceptual Framework

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in massive impact in the production and marketing of vegetables.

Both the supply and the demand side suffered. This saw a shift in the way small-scale farmers

adjusted to the pandemic at both the production and marketing phases in response to the reduced

demand in agricultural products and lower market prices.

3

BEFORE Covid-19 pandemic COVID-19 era

Demand Supply Demand Supply

• Demand stable

• Consumer incomes

more stable

• Market prices

stable

• Supply

certainty

• Lower demand

• Shift in

demanded

products

• Uncertainty in

incomes

• Market prices dropped

• Quantity of produced

sold reduced

• Uncertainty in supply

Fig 1: A simplified conceptual framework of the production and marketing demand and supply

before and during the pandemic

3.0 Study Design, Data and Methods

3.1 Study design and data

To capture the negative effect on small-scale vegetable production and marketing that occurred

due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe, I conducted 6 intensive interviews of small-scale

farmers. The participants of the study were selected through purposive and snowball sampling.

Purposive sampling involves identifying and choosing individuals or groups of individuals that

are particularly conversant with or experienced with a phenomenon of interest (Creswell & Plano

Clark, 2011). Bernard (2002) and Spradley (1979) further add that, additional to knowledge and

experience, participants’ availability and willingness to take part, and their capacity to

communicate their experiences and views in an eloquent, expressive, and reflective manner is of

importance. Thus, focus was given to households involved in the production and marketing of

vegetables during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and parts of 2021. Results obtained from the

study not only provide information on the negative effect on small-scale farmers, but also inversely

highlight the negative effect on demand of consumers.The miniature survey focused on small-

scale farmers from Goromonzi District, Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. It focused on

COVID-19

4

the period between March 2020 when Zimbabwe enforced the national lockdown regulations, to

date. Vegetables contribute a significant portion of income generating activities in Goromonzi

District. A huge quantity of the vegetables is sold at the farmers market of Mbare Musika in the

capital city of Harare, and other nearby towns and centres such as Marondera town and

Chitungwiza.

Since field visits were impossible due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, quantitative data was

collected via long mobile network calls. A descriptive household survey using a small

questionnaire was conducted telephonically to collect primary data from the six small-scale

farmers. The interviews

identified vegetable production challenges from planting to harvesting that have resulted from the

Covid-19 pandemic and potential opportunities. The study investigated challenges experienced by

farmers in marketing their harvested produce due to the enforced travel restrictions (in terms of

mobility, transactions, and income). It also examined strategies that are being employed by

farmers to lower the pandemic’s possible risk on their current performance and livelihoods, any

anticipations of support for their production and supply activities and opportunities. I also analysed

the effect of the COVID-19 on decision-making by farmers on their production and marketing

decisions for the current and future seasons.

3.2 Methods and Assumptions

For the analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on the production and marketing of vegetables in

Goromonzi District, I carried out a comparative analysis between the two-time periods; before and

during the Covid-19 pandemic. This involves a comparison of two different economic outcomes

during the comparison period because of an exogenous parameter, Covid-19. It is known that

vegetable production and sales follow certain periodic and seasonal patterns. Also, Zimbabwe is

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facing an economic crisis amidst a devastating combination of macroeconomic instability, climate

shocks and policy inconsistencies. The country’s business environment is challenging for various

economic players including small-scale farmers. In this study, these issues are held constant to

examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the production and marketing of vegetables

before the pandemic and after. The impact of Covid-19 was reflected in the quantity supplied,

price and demand of produce. As earlier indicated, this study focused solely on the pandemic as a

factor influencing production and sales. Other non-related factors were not included so that

examination could focus thoroughly on this phenomenon. To fully exhaust all areas related to the

production and marketing of the vegetable produce in the study, I analysed relevant variables such

as land sizes, dates, marketing channels, influencing regulations, prices, sales volumes among

others.

4.0 Impact of Covid-19 on Vegetable Production and Marketing

4.1 Impact on production

To understand Covid-19’s negative effect on fresh vegetable production, a number of questions

related to production activities were asked farmers for the period at the beginning of lockdown

regulations in 2020 to date. This was compared to 2019 production activities. The lockdown was

implemented in March 2020 when most farmers had already commenced production of various

crops. Initially farmers experienced mobility challenges due to the travel restrictions during the

first three weeks of the national lockdown when businesses were closed including farmer markets,

restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, schools etc. All the interviewed farmers cited mobility as a major

challenge especially around March-April 2020 period when farmers were not considered

“essential service workers”. 66.7% of the farmers stated that they were not affected in terms of

inputs purchasing because they had already bought their needed inputs before the national

6

lockdown. However 33.3% reported that the lockdown caught them unawares and the restrictions

impeded their access to inputs, and they had to resort to buying their inputs costly on the parallel

market, with prices as high as USD50 for 50kg of Compound C fertiliser. One farmer mentioned

that a delay in the application of fertilisers on crops affected crop yields. Another farmer revealed

that he had ordered drip irrigation kits from South Africa for his farm. During the lockdown, the

South African Rand devalued to a low against the United States Dollar (USD), which is one of the

currencies used in Zimbabwe. This made the implements more expensive than usual during the

time of purchase. Due to border closures, he could not import his implements through the

Beitbridge border post. The equipment arrived later than the expected date, which adversely

affected on farming operations.

To further explore how production was affected during lockdown, farmers were asked on how the

national lockdown influenced variables such as area planted, quantity of crop harvested and the

number of cycles they had for each crop in 2020 in comparison to 2019. There was no significant

change in the land sizes allocated for crops grown by farmers between 2019 and 2020. But slight

adjustments were made during the course of the year 2020, as the pandemic became more

widespread. Farmers had not anticipated a severe impact in the short-term, hence land sizes

allocated for production and growing cycles were not significantly affected. Although the

adjustments were not significant especially at the beginning of the national lockdown, the farmer

responses confirmed that they had generally adjusted their land sizes downwards as the year

progressed. 83.3% of the farmers documented that they had reduced their land allocations in

response to the pandemic.

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Fig 2: Percentage of farmers that adjusted their area cropped and growing cycles

Table 1 above demonstrates the percentage of farmers that adjusted their sizes of land allocated to

crops and/or that reduced their growing cycles due to the pandemic. Data indicates that although

farmers adjusted their cropped area during the year, they remained hopeful to the situation getting

better as they maintained their growing cycles. It also indicates that farming is their main

livelihood, and they will persevere even amidst a pandemic. Only 16.7% of the farmer respondents

adjusted their growing cycles.

One observed change in demand was for a farmer whose professional catering services client,

Servcor Private Limited, stopped ordering the farmer’s tomatoes (1 tonne weekly) during

lockdown because of reduced demand on their part. The same farmer also used to make tomato

deliveries of 200kg/week to Holiday Inn hotel, which were stopped because of the lockdown. The

farmer’s sales of an average of 1 tonne per week to middlemen came to halt during lockdown,

devastatingly affecting his income. Another farmer reduced tomato deliveries from an average of

800kg/week each to Choppies, Food Lovers Market, OK and Pick n Pay supermarkets in Harare

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

REDUCED AREA UNDER CROP REDUCED GROWING CYCLES

83,3

33,3

16,7

66,7

Pe

rce

nta

ge o

f fa

rme

rs

Farmer responses

Yes No

8

to an average 120kg/week with much less price. Another farmer who used to make two trips of

deliveries per week to the other various Pick ‘n’ Pay and OK supermarkets in Harare also had his

number of delivery trips reduced to once per week with less tomatoes delivered. This continued

during the year 2020 with the variations in regulations effected by the government. As a result,

the farmer reduced area grown under tomatoes.

Fig 3: Number of cabbage heads planted over the period 2020

Of the six farmers that I interviewed, two farmers grew cabbages in 2020 during the pandemic.

Both farmers made downward adjustments to the area grown under cabbages after they

experienced a reduced demand in cabbage during initial phases of the pandemic. Line graph 1

above illustrates how farmers adjusted the number of cabbages planted in different months of

2020, subsequently affecting area planted. Both farmers grew three cycles of cabbages and for the

second cycle, they reduced the number of heads of cabbages that they planted. One farmer planted

5,000 heads of cabbages in April and harvested in June at the initial phases of the pandemic, and

for the second cycle he reduced to planting 2,000 heads in June 2020 to minimise losses. In

September, the farmer’s planted cabbages remained at 2,000. The other farmer planted 2,000 heads

5000

200020002000

1200

1800

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1st cycle (Feb/Apr)) 2nd cycle (June) 3rd cycle (Sept)

Nu

mb

er o

f ca

bb

age

hea

ds

pla

nte

d

Months/cycles in 2020Farmer 1 Farmer 2

9

in February 2020, harvesting in May, planted again a reduced 1,500 heads during the mid-year in

June and harvested in August 2020. However as the regulations were relaxing, he increased his

planted number of cabbages to 1,800 in September 2020. Although the number of heads planted

increased, it was lower than the initial number of planted crops in February to minimise losses.

The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Settlements made an announcement to approve farm

workers to continue working on the farms as long as they practiced hygiene procedures (observing

social distancing, frequent washing of hands, covering up in masks and reporting suspected cases)

some weeks after the national lockdown was implemented. Prior to the announcement, farmers

had suffered some loss due to the temporary cessation of production. Of the farmer respondents,

83.3% indicated that after this pronouncement, they had not been affected by labour disruptions

in the sense of farm workers being unable to report for duty because the farm workers lived nearby

and were not affected by the lockdowns. However social distancing meant that the farmer had to

restrict the number of labour-force performing any activity at any particular time resulting in

reduced production per person. This heavily influenced activity turnaround time which became

lengthier, thus increasing production costs and subsequently putting pressure on cash flows of the

farmer. Both farmer and farm workers experienced an emotional burden due the pandemic which

affected production.

4.2 Impact on marketing

One strong observation that transpired from the study is that, at the beginning of the national

lockdown, small-scale farmers were not considered as “essential services”. This saw mobility

become a major challenge for the small-scale farmers in Goromonzi district during the initial

stages of lockdown when there was a lot of confusion and uncertainty in the market. Especially

10

around March-April 2020 period, small-scale farmers were unable to access their markets to sell

harvested produce resulting in huge food loss and waste.

All the farmers that I interviewed indicated that they had challenges transporting their produce

from their farms to the various markets that they sell their produce. The various markets that they

always sell to include the large Mbare Musika farmers market in Harare and other nearby urban

centre farmers markets such as those in Marondera town, Chitungwiza town, Seke and Dema

towns. These urban market centres mainly operate informally selling a broad variety of

commodities, attracting a huge human traffic at their point of sales. Closure of the markets and

later re-opening observing social distancing, meant that the markets operated limitedly drastically

reducing farmers’ income. Social distancing hugely affected community, social and religious

interactions. Gatherings were barred at the beginning, for example the Christian Easter

celebrations that occur around April public holidays could not be take place, resulting in a reduced

demand of vegetable products. Farmer respondents highlighted that although as the year

progressed, and farmers were exempted to continue with business, they were displeased with the

fact that the government later allowed for some shops to open, but still did not allow for customers

to travel to the shops because of the continued lockdown, which affected their sales.

As travel restrictions relaxed, they acquired letters from the police and the Ministry of Lands,

Agriculture and Rural Settlements to allow them to travel to the markets. The national lockdown

also affected buyers such as vendors and middlemen who would travel to the vegetable farms in

Goromonzi district to purchase fresh vegetables either for own consumption or for resale in the

surrounding urban centres. No buyers came to the farms to buy during the initial lockdown stages.

As regulations relaxed and tightened during the different phases of the year, variations occurred

on the number of customers who travelled to the farms to buy vegetables.

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Closure of various businesses and offices resulted in reduced economic activity around the

country. With business, shops and restaurants closed, customers stayed away from markets. Both

poor and high-income households were affected by the pandemic experiencing income loss.

Reduced economic activity caused a decline in disposable income particularly amongst the self-

employed people, who make a significant proportion of the population in Zimbabwe. These

measures stopped people from working. For the poor, it was worsened by the fact that they did not

have options to fall back in terms of income generation. The Zimbabwean government could not

provide assistance to compensate for lost incomes, and there were also no social protection

programs to assist towards the overall nutrition and health well-being. Thus inability to buy food

seemed to suggest the fact that food access problems were driven by income problems rather than

prices. A decline in disposable income led to a change in consumption habits in response to Covid-

19. Major changes in buying behaviour occurred, resulting in reduced consumer demand

(customer demand curve going down) of agricultural produce especially fresh vegetables as

consumers invested more in drier products with longer shelf-life such as dried beans, soya mince,

flour, maize meal and pasta. In turn, farmers struggled to sell their produce causing surpluses to

accumulate. This put a strain on storage facilities, which farmers reported not to have, increasing

their food losses especially on perishables such as tomatoes, cabbages and green leafy vegetables

as they were rotting at the farms. They reported to have lost at least 20% of their harvested crops

during the pandemic because there were no markets and storage facilities.

Through interviews, another loss experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic was that of prices as

shown in table 2 below. There were huge variations in prices at different stages of the pandemic

compared to 2019, prior to the pandemic when it was a more stable. The different price structures

illustrate the heterogeneity of the pandemic’s impact. The common thread across the food systems

within the fresh vegetable sector was that prices dropped by over 50% for most of the crops.

12

Variations occurred based on the farmer, the environment, and the markets. For example in some

instances, tomatoes that were sold for USD1 per crate (+/- 3kg weight) in 2019 in Chitungwiza

and Epworth urban centres, were sold for ZWL$25 ($25 Zimbabwean bond/bank notes) per crate,

which was equivalent to USD0.33 around July 2020. In some instances tomatoes that were sold

for USD15/40kg crate were then sold for USD2/40kg crate just soon after the national lockdown

was implemented due to flooding in the market. During the year as the lockdown regulations

relaxed, prices moved to USD8/40kg crate. Another farmer experienced a loss as he could not sell

his produce in 2020, but only started reselling his produce in 2021 when regulations were much

more relaxed than in 2020. In 2021 tomatoes were being sold for USD10/20litres bucket compared

to USD7/20litres bucket in 2020. Another farmer sold his tomatoes for USD0.10/kg around April

2020 compared to USD0.50/kg around the same time in 2019.

Only 33.3% of the farmer respondents grew onions. One of the farmers who grew onions, had

only started growing them in 2020 during the pandemic and did not have a comparative reference

prior to the pandemic. The other farmer highlighted that onion prices experienced a massive drop

in prices during the Covid-19 pandemic just like most of the vegetable products. Onions were sold

in different bundle sizes depending on the size and number of onions in the bundle. For example

for, 8 big onions formed a bundle and its price slumped from USD5/bundle in 2019 to USD1.50

in 2020. From USD3.50/bundle, a bundle of 12 medium onions also fell in 2019 to USD1/bundle

in 2020. A bundle of 18 small onions dropped from USD2.50/bundle in 2019 to USD0.50/bundle

in 2020. Of the 94,000 heads of king onions that he had harvested around April 2020, he managed

only to sell 10,000 heads during that period which was much less than he sold prior to the

pandemic. Due to non-storage facilities, the farmer lost a large portion of the retained crop post-

harvest.

13

Similar price slumps were experienced for other crops that were produced by the farmers that I

interviewed. Other crops that were grown were cabbages, leafy green vegetables (covo or African

kale) and butternuts. Of the interviewed farmers, 33.3% grew cabbages. Just like the other crops,

cabbages experienced a fall in prices during the pandemic. In 2019, cabbages were sold for USD1

for 3 heads of cabbages, whilst they were sold for USD1 for 5 in 2020. Before lockdown, green

leafy vegetables sold for an average of USD3/bundle and plummeted to USD1/bundle in 2020

during lockdown. In 2021 as movement got better, the vegetables went back to their pre-pandemic

prices of USD3/bundle. The bundles in question varied in size and for one small-scale farmer in

consisted of 20 leaves, which he sold for approximately USD0.20 during lockdown. Of the

interviewed small-scale farmers, 33.3% grew butternuts. In 2020, just before the national

lockdown regulations, butternuts sold for USD20 for a 90kg sack, which was a 2019 price. During

the lockdown, the butternuts were selling for USD0.10 per 1kg.

Table 1: Comparison of vegetable prices before and after the pandemic

Vegetable 2019 2020 Decline (%)

Tomatoes (per kg) 0.50 0.10 80.0

Butternuts (per kg) 0.22` 0.10 54.5

Green leafy vegetables (per bundle) 3.00 1.00 66.7

Cabbages (per head) 0.33 `0.20 39.4

Onions (per big bundle) 5.00 1.50 70.0

Onions and butternut are less perishable than the other vegetables. Hence the farmers who grew

butternuts and onions, seemed to have been in a better position than the producers of more

perishable crops such as tomatoes, green leafy vegetables and cabbages because butternuts and

onions could be stored for longer and gave farmers some time to bargain for prices.

14

5.0 Responses and Implications for the Future

This research was interested in understanding and documenting coping strategies and responses

employed by farmers to Covid-19 pandemic. Respondent farmers indicated to have employed their

strategies in the two stages to minimise loss. One point that was strongly highlighted was that at

the early stages of the pandemic, farmers did not have enough time to adjust their production

patterns. Land allocations, clearing, planting and other agricultural production activities had

already begun, and there was not much that could be done in response when the lockdown was

implemented. But as the pandemic progressed and as infections were rising and the market

responding accordingly, production started to take a lean towards reduction in area allocation to

crops. Although this response strategy was not very visible, given the unexpected occurrence of

the pandemic, the slight adjustments were significant to the farmers’ income and profit margins.

Since the onset of the pandemic, small-scale farmers struggled to sell their produce. Businesses,

shops and restaurants closed with customers staying away from markets, leaving farmers with

huge losses through rotting crops and adverse loss in income. Farmers resorted to various ways of

responding to the challenges brought by Covid-19. All small-scale farmers that I interviewed

highlighted that experiences obtained from Covid-19 motivated them to seek new markets for their

produce to recompense for the demand loss and lower sales to supermarkets, farmers’ markets,

catering companies and other big markets due to Covid-19 controls. The farmers indicated that

they utilised more aggressive marketing approaches to reach a wider market. Of the farmers,

66.6% noted that they compensated for their lost markets by actively seeking new markets in the

neighbouring township communities, and neighbourhoods that they had not targeted before or that

they sold less to before lockdown. The market was flooded by agricultural produce of various

other farmers who were equally affected by the lockdown, so the farmers made plans to sell their

produce in nearby townships and neighbourhoods such as Tafara, Mabvuku, Chitungwiza, Dema,

15

Seke, Ruwa etc - where they would randomly drive to seek markets and sometimes sell by the

roadside, in most cases illegally. Although this was time consuming and expensive on their part,

they considered this method to be better than their vegetables rotting because they did not have

storage facilities. In these situations, farmers would encounter the police and the army who were

enforcing lockdown regulations and 50% of these farmers admitted having paid a bribe to police

officers on different occasions for them to continue selling their produce. One farmer mentioned

that in such a scenario, the best was to just sell even if the prices were low. This was expensive

and heavily reduced their profit margins. This method was a challenge for 33.3% of interviewed

small-scale farmers who did not own vehicles. They could not drive to different locations to sell

produce like the other small-scale farmers who were vehicle owners. In response, they waited for

vendors or middlemen (who were also affected by the lockdowns) to come to their farms to

purchase the produce, sometimes vegetables rotting the longer it took. Prior to lockdown, farmers

who did not own vehicles hired trucks to transport their vegetables to farmers’ markets,

supermarkets or other clients. They would pay different amounts depending on their arrangements.

For example when transporting 500 crates of tomatoes, they were charged USD0.90/crate per trip

to nearby Chitungwiza farmers’ market.

One method that became more prevalent in Zimbabwe during lockdown, was online marketing

and home deliveries. Across the country, sellers adopted and marketed via social media platforms

such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp apps. Whilst other strategies of selling on

other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were popular elsewhere and in other

sectors in Zimbabwe, the farmers that I interviewed did not make use of these platforms. 33.3%

of the interviewed small-scale farmers, cited that they had resorted to door-to-door marketing and

home deliveries of their produce to their loyal customers that they had dealt with for a longer time.

They developed a customer database, and developed marketing WhatsApp groups to advertise

16

their produce and get orders. They also resorted to selling a fuller basket of vegetables, comprising

of the daily needed vegetables, which one called “full bar and catering”. They reported that the

word-of-mouth marketing was helpful for them as it assisted in acquiring new customers in the

neighbourhoods. One farmer resorted to practicing agro-processing through drying vegetables to

enhance shelf-life and to overcome post-harvest losses. This assisted in minimising food waste.

6.0 Conclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown to have a negative effect on the agricultural sector causing

significant challenges for the fresh produce food system in the short-term. In the short-term and

medium-term, the pandemic had implications for food loss and waste. Farmer losses rose in the

short and medium term due to logistical challenges and a reduction in the demand for fresh

vegetables. Over the longer term the farmers may identify ways of reducing post-harvest losses.

Consumers may also on the hand re-evaluate their spending and consumption patterns with the

aim of reducing waste.

The damage to be caused by this influence on food security and livelihoods of farmers will be

dependent on policy measures exercised by the government over the short, medium and long

terms. In the short-term, governments globally are confronted with handling the numerous

demands of responding to the health crisis and managing the shock caused to economies by the

pandemic and balancing it with the need to protect livelihoods. In Zimbabwe, during the year 2020

and early 2021, the government mainly focused on the management of the health crisis through

the enforced regulations and later the ongoing vaccinations roll-out. Importantly, there is a need

to know if the measures put in place will only be temporary or long-lasting and if there is a need

to change business models for small-scale farmers to improve resilience. More effort will be

required in planning for the medium and long term to ensure the country’s food security through

a functioning food system and improved livelihoods of small farmers. It is an opportunity for the

17

country to accelerate its much needed economic and political transformations to improve the

business environment and to benefit the agricultural sector to build resilience for a range of

challenges including Covid 19.

Zimbabwe needs to adopt appropriate emergency measures to support small-scale farmers with

the aim of improving reduction in post-harvest losses and capacitating farmers to boost their

marketing strategies. The government of Zimbabwe needs to closely monitor the markets and

transparently disseminate information to strengthen its capacity to guarantee the effective

management of the food market in partnership with farmers. Current efforts seem to mostly focus

on the production side. Zimbabwe needs a change in its food systems and move towards a more

inclusive from small farmers going up and that is more sustainable than it currently is. Farmers

need to be included in the recovery efforts. Interventions need not only be top-bottom but inclusive

of the small-scale farmers affected by the pandemic to include their experiences.

There seems to be opportunity for innovation and growth in the food sector through investment in

digital communication for farmers to capitalise on e-commerce. Government and private sector

need to collaborate on improving mobile network and broadband infrastructure to increase

farmers’ use of the technologies. More investments are required in network upgrades to support

data services and boost on mobile-commerce (m-commerce) and mobile-banking (m-banking)

facilities in the country, including farming areas where infrastructure seems to be less-developed.

There is need for improved bandwidth to boost the development of the internet and broadband

sectors. Current mobile tariffs need also to be regulated to improve access to data for small farmers

to enhance their participation in e-commerce. There is also an opportunity for the reduction of

food losses and waste post-harvesting through the development of solar-powered cold-rooms or

18

cold-hubs facilities that will allow farmers to properly manage and store food and vegetables, thus

improving farmer’s incomes.

7.0 References

Bernard, H.R. 2002. Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative

approaches. 3rd Alta Mira Press: Walnut Creek, CA.

Cresswell, J.W. 2011. Plano Clark VL. Designing and conducting mixed method research. 2nd

Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Spradley, J.P. 1979. The ethnographic interview. Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York.