The COVID-19 pandemic and its second wave have continued to negatively impact the livelihoods and threaten the food security and nutrition (FSN) of many households in Kenya. In response to mitigate these impacts, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) developed the Keeping Food Markets Working (KFMW) programme to provide targeted support to help sustain core food systems, workers and markets 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 edition two of the report series, summarises the current situation of Kenyan food systems amidst COVID-19 between November 2020 and February 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 FAO, the World Bank and others. The information is current as of approximately 10 March 2021.