On Tuesday, 14 April 2020, the East African Community Secretariat called upon member states to commence developing national economic recovery plans post COVID-19 global pandemic.
Enterprises across sectors in the region including the agro-industry and particularly the informal sector are suffering due to the ongoing pandemic that has caused devastating global effects.
Value chains have been disrupted and tourism, a major source of income in the region, has come to a complete stand-still.
“While many people have already lost their jobs and are struggling to feed their families, there is a window of opportunity to prepare for the time after COVID-19 and to prevent another catastrophe”, said Honourable Christophe Bazivamo, Deputy Secretary-General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, EAC Secretariat.
He especially urged EAC countries to strengthen their food production systems by allowing farming activities to continue.
He further emphasized that partner states should more than ever before promoting the use of technology and digital solutions to improve agriculture production and trade in agriculture products.
“To mitigate the COVID-19 burden and to brace for the expected economic challenges following the pandemic, the EAC Secretariat recommends the Partner States to meet the immediate food needs of their vulnerable populations by ensuring that emergency food needs are met, and to adjust and expand social protection programmes,” the Secretariat said in a statement.
The Secretariat further urged the partner states to gain efficiencies and try to reduce trade-related costs, to reduce food wastage and losses, improve food storage systems and to resolve logistical bottlenecks.
The East African Community Secretariat has already finalised an EAC COVID-19 Response Plan and is developing the EAC Recovery Strategy based on a regional approach.
– APA
