In response to the first case of COVID-19 in Niger on March 19, the government announced a state of emergency on March 27, 2020. Restrictions were gradually lifted starting in May 2020. The spread of COVID-19 in Niger has been limited. To understand the gendered impacts of the pandemic, phone surveys with rural women and men in Niger were conducted. The study was conducted in 8 regions of the country: Agadez, Diffa, Dosso, Maradi, Niamey, Tahoua, Tillaberi, and Zinder. A sample was drawn from a series of previous surveys that had collected phone numbers. Four rounds of the phone survey were conducted in October 2020, December 2020, February 2021, and April 2021. The surveys focused on the economic impact, coping strategies, impact on food security and dietary diversity and the impact on children’s education and care burden. This brief presents the findings.

The first case of COVID-19 in Uganda was reported on March 22, 2020. The number of COVID-19 cases remained low during the first three quarters of 2020, before a first spike toward the end of the year. To understand the gendered impacts of the pandemic, phone surveys with rural women and men in Uganda were conducted. Data were collected from a sub-set of households drawn from a survey conducted in 2017 in 8 districts of the country: Iganga, Kasese, Kiboga, Luwero, Masaka, Masindi, Mbale, and Mubende. Four rounds of phone surveys were conducted in October 2020, February 2021, April 2021, and June 2021. The surveys focused on the economic impact, coping strategies, impact on food security and dietary diversity and the impact on children’s education and care burden. This brief presents the findings. | Non-PR | IFPRI5; Feed the Future Initiative; GCAN; CRP2; G Cross-cutting gender theme | AFR; EPTD; PIM | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

In response to the first case of COVID-19 in Niger on March 19, the government announced a state of emergency on March 27, 2020. Restrictions were gradually lifted starting in May 2020. The spread of COVID-19 in Niger has been limited. To understand the gendered impacts of the pandemic, phone surveys with rural women and men in Niger were conducted. The study was conducted in 8 regions of the country: Agadez, Diffa, Dosso, Maradi, Niamey, Tahoua, Tillaberi, and Zinder. A sample was drawn from a series of previous surveys that had collected phone numbers. Four rounds of the phone survey were conducted in October 2020, December 2020, February 2021, and April 2021. The surveys focused on the economic impact, coping strategies, impact on food security and dietary diversity and the impact on children’s education and care burden. This brief presents the findings. | Non-PR | IFPRI5; Feed the Future Initiative; GCAN; CRP2; G Cross-cutting gender theme | AFR; EPTD; PIM | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

The first wave of COVID-19 cases occurred between June and August 2020. A second wave occurred between October and December 2020 and by the end of December 2020, the number of COVID-19 cases was 92 459. The third rise in cases occurred between January and March of 2021 and partial lockdowns were reimposed in the most affected counties of the country, including mobility restrictions and curfews. This brief releases data on the gender impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural households/livelihoods and the agricultural sector in Kenya. | Non-PR | IFPRI5; Feed the Future Initiative; GCAN; CRP2; G Cross-cutting gender theme | AFR; EPTD; PIM | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kenyan government declared a nationwide dusk to dawn curfew in March 2020 that was lifted in large parts later in the year, followed by off-and-on reinstatements of curfews and limitations on mobility largely for the capital region. The government also banned religious and other public gatherings and encouraged people to work from home and practice social distancing. The government has extended social protection programs, including public works programs and stipends and cash transfers, which are often targeted to women and single parent households and other vulnerable members of society to support them through the pandemic.

While the lockdown in Ghana due to COVID-19 was not as stringent or long as in other countries (at least up to June 2021), it has severely affected rural household incomes, including remittances. Almost three-quarters of households surveyed reported income loss due to the pandemic in Aug/Sep 2020. Use of savings, borrowing and asset sales were common. Women often relied on men’s savings as a coping strategy; government transfers were insignificant. Addressing COVID-19 in rural areas is hindered by a domestic water supply crisis. Approximately half of respondents reported being worried about water availability, changing their activities due to lack of water, not having enough drinking water, and not washing hands when necessary.

The first case of COVID-19 in Uganda was reported on March 22, 2020. The number of COVID-19 cases remained low during the first three quarters of 2020, before a first spike toward the end of the year. To understand the gendered impacts of the pandemic, phone surveys with rural women and men in Uganda were conducted. Data were collected from a sub-set of households drawn from a survey conducted in 2017 in 8 districts of the country: Iganga, Kasese, Kiboga, Luwero, Masaka, Masindi, Mbale, and Mubende. Four rounds of phone surveys were conducted in October 2020, February 2021, April 2021, and June 2021. The surveys focused on the economic impact, coping strategies, impact on food security and dietary diversity and the impact on children’s education and care burden. This brief presents the findings.

Consumer preference for boiled potato in Uganda has been assessed to be prevalently based on soft (hardness) and mealy texture. However, harmonised standard procedures have not been hitherto developed to characterize the texture of boiled potato instrumentally in SSA. The RTBBreeding© project focussed on developing discriminant and sensory-correlated procedures based on comparative analyses of Extrusion, Penetration and Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) techniques for mid-throughput evaluation of texture of steamed potato from potato varieties. Tubers of nine popular landrace varieties cultivated in Kabale and Rakai districts of Uganda were used. The tubers were cut into 25 mm cubes, steamed for 15 min in banana leaves and analysed using a calibrated TA-XT texture analyser under standard conditions (Extrusion: test speed 1 mm s-1, strain 80 %, 5-blade grid Ottawa cell; Penetration: test speed 1 mm s-1, distance 10 mm, 60° cone probe; TPA: test speed 1 mm s-1, distance 5 mm, wait period 5 s, 75 mm cylindrical plate) at about 25 °C. For descriptive sensory analysis, twenty random tubers from each variety were steamed for 40 min and evaluated in duplicate by trained panellists for eleven selected sensory parameters on a 11-point scale ranging from 0 (minimum intensity) to 10 (maximum intensity). Results show that Area under curve/Extrusion work (73-236 N.mm), Maximum force/ hardness (6-17 N), and End force (6-15 N) were the more discriminant textural parameters for extrusion. Maximum force, End force and Extrusion work significantly correlated with sensory Moisture release and Hardness by hand. The discriminant textural parameters for penetration were Area under curve/ Penetration work (6-21 N mm) and Maximum force/ hardness (2-6 N). Significant correlations exist between penetration Hardness and Area under curve and the sensory Hardness by hand, fracturability, cohesiveness, and smoothness. Finally, the more discriminant textural parameters for TPA were Hardness (20-52 N), Gumminess (5-19 N) and Chewiness (5-18 N). There are significant correlations between TPA Adhesiveness and sensory moisture release and mealiness. Among the methods, the penetration method was more preferred as it correlated most with sensory evaluation, while TPA was least correlated with sensory.

Consumer preference for boiled potato in Uganda has been assessed to be prevalently based on soft (hardness) and mealy texture. However, harmonised standard procedures have not been hitherto developed to characterize the texture of boiled potato instrumentally in SSA. The RTBBreeding© project focussed on developing discriminant and sensory-correlated procedures based on comparative analyses of Extrusion, Penetration and Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) techniques for mid-throughput evaluation of texture of steamed potato from potato varieties. Tubers of nine popular landrace varieties cultivated in Kabale and Rakai districts of Uganda were used. The tubers were cut into 25 mm cubes, steamed for 15 min in banana leaves and analysed using a calibrated TA-XT texture analyser under standard conditions (Extrusion: test speed 1 mm s-1, strain 80 %, 5-blade grid Ottawa cell; Penetration: test speed 1 mm s-1, distance 10 mm, 60° cone probe; TPA: test speed 1 mm s-1, distance 5 mm, wait period 5 s, 75 mm cylindrical plate) at about 25 °C. For descriptive sensory analysis, twenty random tubers from each variety were steamed for 40 min and evaluated in duplicate by trained panellists for eleven selected sensory parameters on a 11-point scale ranging from 0 (minimum intensity) to 10 (maximum intensity). Results show that Area under curve/Extrusion work (73-236 N.mm), Maximum force/ hardness (6-17 N), and End force (6-15 N) were the more discriminant textural parameters for extrusion. Maximum force, End force and Extrusion work significantly correlated with sensory Moisture release and Hardness by hand. The discriminant textural parameters for penetration were Area under curve/ Penetration work (6-21 N mm) and Maximum force/ hardness (2-6 N). Significant correlations exist between penetration Hardness and Area under curve and the sensory Hardness by hand, fracturability, cohesiveness, and smoothness. Finally, the more discriminant textural parameters for TPA were Hardness (20-52 N), Gumminess (5-19 N) and Chewiness (5-18 N). There are significant correlations between TPA Adhesiveness and sensory moisture release and mealiness. Among the methods, the penetration method was more preferred as it correlated most with sensory evaluation, while TPA was least correlated with sensory.