Impacts of Covid-19 on horticultural SMEs in Ethiopia

COLEACP’s surveys in the early months of the pandemic aimed to gather first-hand information on the impact of Covid-19 on operators of horticultural businesses, and assess how support from COLEACP and other partners could best be redirected as a response. These were not intended to be systematic surveys – respondents were self-selecting, and the operators taking part varying greatly in size and operation. But the results provide an illuminating qualitative snapshot of the key impacts of Covid-19 to date, and have been used to inform COLEACP’s and partner organisations’ priorities going forward.

In June 2020, COLEACP conducted a survey of its members in the Ethiopian horticultural sector. The three responding companies are active in the fresh production and export sector, mainly strawberries and fresh herbs.

All participating companies usually market their products on the international and regional markets (European Union and Middle East).

During the period of the survey (March–May), two respondents saw losses on their orders up to 25%, and one company experienced losses of 25–50%.

However, two companies reported that prices were similar to those received in the same period in 2019, although one company said prices had fallen.

The main problems encountered by companies were disturbed domestic logistics, limited supply of fresh produce, high cargo costs and limited airfreight options to main destination markets.

In response to the Covid-19 crisis, two of the companies were selling more on domestic markets. One company had processed some of their products; all three were still identifying potential markets to sell off their produce.

Covid-19 measures – frequent hand washing, distancing, not shaking hands – were generally known and understood by most employees of the companies. Despite the lack of financial means and restrictions on movements, all the companies were able to implement measures to cope with Covid-19 that allowed them to continue their operations at production (on-farm) and packhouse levels.