Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on agrifood manufacturing small and medium enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa
For the most part, small food manufacturers were allowed to remain open during the COVID-19 crisis to ensure food security, but their operations were nonetheless hampered from a range of perspectives. The aim of this report is, first, to analyse how small food manufacturers were impacted by the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of government measures enacted to halt its spread, and second, to provide recommendations that contribute to the recovery of the small food processing sub-sector in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In so doing, the study identifies measures that can mitigate the disruptive impacts on agri-food manufacturers and which also contribute to building a resilient business environment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across agrifood value chains. It also provides data to inform the process of structural reforms and systems change needed at the national level of targeted countries.
