With Kenya weathering the third wave of COVID-19, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) has continued to develop ways to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on livelihoods and SMEs in Kenya through the Keeping Food Markets Working (KFMW) programme. KFMW is providing targeted support to help sustain core food systems, support workers and keep markets functioning during the COVID-19 emergency. The programme’s objective is to mitigate the risk of the collapse of food systems and ensure the availability and affordability of nutritious food. This report, which is the third in a series, summarises the current situation of Kenyan food systems amidst COVID-19 between March and May 2021, with an emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and nutritious food value chains.
The information in this edition comes largely from a synthesis of relevant secondary data but also includes some primary research by GAIN and its partner initiatives. A thorough desk review of available secondary data was conducted, including FEWS NET; the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS); the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Big Data tool on food chains under the COVID-19 pandemic; FAO Food Price Monitoring and Analysis; and over a dozen studies by IPCC, the World Bank and others. The information is current as of approximately May 2021.