Resilience of the food sector in the face of the Covid-19 crisis and prospects for agricultural policies in the Republic of Congo

Abstract

The economic and health crisis caused by COVID-19 calls into question the reconfiguration trajectories of food systems in the Republic of Congo. It questions the extent to which the regulatory measures taken by the public authorities and the adaptation strategies of the actors lead to changes in the structural governance of the country's food system. The article analyses the strategies for adapting to the crisis, by using secondary data and authors' experience of support to public policies in the agricultural and food sector. In Congo, the food sector remains dependent on the outside world and relies on extensive subsistence farming. To manage the pandemic, a general, 'flexible' containment of the population has been applied. Panic buying, reduced market activities and the temporary rise in food prices revealed the fragility of the sector linked to its dependence on international markets. However, the crisis has confirmed the collective innovative capacity of the informal sector. It has restored the recognition of urban agriculture has source of employment for vulnerable populations. It calls into question the design of future agricultural and food policies with regard to the integration of health, food and social risks, in the context of the Congo Forest Basin, which is exposed to the risk of a resurgence of existing zoonoses and emerging diseases.