The Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has called on Government to give clear COVID-19 guidelines for the 2020 agricultural marketing season.
Centre Senior Researcher Simon Manda has observed that the current policy direction by Government to the COVID-19 crisis is inadequate in as far as providing a good framework for the fast approaching agriculture marketing season.
Mr Manda also notes that continued restrictions on social and economic activities risk causing widespread vulnerabilities especially for rural producers who face storage challenges and require quick access to markets.
“CTPD has observed that the current policy direction by Government to the COVID-19 crisis is inadequate in as far as providing a good framework for the fast approaching agriculture marketing season,” Mr Manda Said.
“The Centre notes that the continued restrictions on social and economic activities risk causing widespread vulnerabilities especially for rural producers who face storage challenges and require quick access to markets”
He said it is a well-known fact that rural producers face diverse challenges such as poor storage, limited access to markets coupled with unclear agriculture marketing guidelines which often lead to serious delays in taking farm produce to the market eventually leading to sharp drops in commodity supply and price hikes.
Mr Manda mentioned that a prudent but cautious approach to agriculture marketing which considers the local context in the country can be advanced with clear marketing guidelines as the Government continues to fight the COVID-19 virus.
He has however warned that any delays to create COVID-19 agriculture marketing related guidelines might create social and economic problems probably much bigger than COVID-19.
“We believe that in the current crisis, supporting broad based livelihoods will be crucial given that social protection is minimal,” Mr Manda said.
