COVID-19 and the response of Ethiopian rural food systems

在埃塞俄比亚，COVID-19及遏止疫情蔓延的努力已造成严重的经济及社会后果，包括农业食品供应链中断、城乡关系受到干扰、跨境贸易萎缩，以及城乡弱势群体承受的压力日益增加。粮食系统是了解危机影响和确定埃塞俄比亚社会农村和城市部分变革潜力的关键，该项目侧重于农村家庭及其与城市行为体的关系，而其配套项目则侧重于城市粮食系统和行为体。该项目的目的是评估埃塞俄比亚农村粮食系统在COVID-19大流行的各个阶段对危机的反应。该项目的出发点是，要了解区域粮食系统对突发破坏性冲击的反应，就需要更仔细地研究家庭和当地社区内的社会资本、隐藏的脆弱性和交叉关系。该研究是在同一个小组以前在同一地区进行的一项研究的基础上进行的，该研究采用水-能源-粮食关系的方法来调查农村的变革。通过使用先前研究中的现有家庭数据和联系人，新项目将能够应用"防电晕"方法，并在只有有限个人接触的情况下评估正在发生的变化。研究方法将主要包括与当地家庭、中介机构和专家进行电话访谈，以及照片-语音工具和其他定性方法。研究目标和工作包涉及（1）家庭资产和福祉，（2）社区背景下的社会资本和市场关系，（3）区域制度背景下不断变化的国家-社会关系，以及（4）跨领域背景下的性别和交叉关系。将对这四个相互关联的领域进行调查，以确定当前危机对当地生计和粮食系统的影响。 该项目的设计及其快速跟踪结果确保在大流行病期间创造关键知识并提供给当地行为者。

In Ethiopia, COVID-19 and the efforts to curb the spread of the pandemic have had severe economic and social consequences, including disruption of agro-food supply chains, disturbance of rural-urban relations, shrinking cross border trade, and growing pressures on vulnerable groups both in rural and urban areas. Food systems are key for understanding the impact of the crisis, and for identifying the transformative potentials of rural and urban segments of Ethiopian society.This project focuses on rural households and their relations with urban actors, while its companion project focuses on urban food system and actors. The aim of this project is to assess the response of Ethiopian rural food systems to the crisis throughout the various stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project starts from the premise that understanding the response of regional food systems to sudden disruptive shocks requires a closer look at social capital, hidden vulnerabilities and intersectional relations within households and local communities. Research builds upon a previous study by the same team in the same area, which had applied a water-energy-food nexus approach to investigate rural transformations. By using the available household data and contacts from this previous study, the new project will be able to apply “Corona-proof” methods, and to evaluate ongoing changes with only limited personal encounters. Research methods will primarily consist in telephone interviews with local households, intermediaries, and experts, together with photo-voice tools and other qualitative methods. Research objectives and work packages concern (1) household assets and wellbeing, (2) social capital and market relations in the community context, (3) changing state-society relations in the regional institutional context, and (4) gender and intersectional relations in cross-cutting contexts. These four mutually related fields will be investigated to identify the impact of the current crisis on local livelihoods and food systems. The design of this project and its fast-tracked results ensure that critical knowledge is created and delivered to local actors during the pandemic.