Building Back Better after COVID-19

This policy brief reports headline findings from research investigating the impacts of Covid-19 regulations and mitigation measures on actors in South Africa’s food system. The research focuses on fresh produce in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and fish in the Western Cape. The researchers conducted 211 in-depth interviews, facilitated the production of 24 food diaries and visited 16 primary field sites. Agriculture grew 13% in the first year of Covid-19 – the only sector which grew amid a 7% contraction in the South African economy as a whole. Yet this positive picture masks rising inequality among the millions of people who derive their livelihoods from the production, processing, trade and sale of food and food products.