Along with the economic devastation, including widespread job losses for informal sector daily wage earners and MSMEs accounting for 85 percent of Kenya’s total employment), food insecurity is one of the biggest concerns.
With Kenya already ranking highest amongst African countries in terms of digital readiness in agriculture, here are five ways FoodTech can support food security and jobs during and after the Covid-19 pandemic:
1: Food-e-commerce as an alternative distribution system
Food and beverages accounted for 10 percent of e-commerce in Kenya in 2019.
Although large food aggregators like UberEats and supermarkets are already working at or over capacity to meet demand, more MSMEs need to join the fray by producing ready-meals (cloud kitchens) and delivering (logistics) groceries for low-income households.
2: Digital food management for community support
Digital food-management includes order, inventory and data management through cloud services, SMS, interactive voice response (IVR) and block chain.
To facilitate preventative management for vulnerable households and enhance targeting, the government can roll out apps like the UK developed C-19 symptom tracker that uses self-reported symptoms and food intake data to map out the level of immunity and diet diversity.
