Closure of the international market.

Asia and Europe are Uganda’s major trading partners, and the effects of coronavirus were also
being felt in Uganda. For instance, when China shut down its manufacturing centers and closed
its ports, there was a resultant decrease in demand for Uganda’s commodities. Importers in China
were canceling orders from Uganda due to port closures and because of the reduction in
consumption in China. This resulted in a reduction in the demand for the country’s exports which
are mainly agricultural commodities and natural resources.

The disruption in global supply chains because of factory global lockdown due to the covid 19,
many small and medium enterprises in Uganda were not operating. This sector constitutes 13%
of Uganda’s economy (Lakuma, P.C et al., 2020). Nearly 20% of all the goods traded in this
sector are imported outside Uganda. This resulted in the loss of jobs for most of the people that
used to depend on these factories to earn a living thus making them incapable of buying their
food. Uganda’s economic performance is influenced by developments in the global economic
environment. Therefore, a slowdown in the global economy because of coronavirus
automatically negatively impacted Uganda’s economy.

In Uganda, rural economies and livelihoods do not operate in isolation from urban areas and
national and global economies (Bird, K., McKay, A., & Shinyekwa, I. 2010). However, rural
spaces are interwoven into national and global markets through complex networks of production,
trade, migration, and remittance flows. These linkages, combined with disproportionately higher
levels of pre-pandemic poverty and food insecurity, make rural places and rural livelihoods
acutely vulnerable to adverse economic impacts of the pandemic (Bordi, D., et al., 2020).
Moreover, informality is a key feature of rural life in many countries. As a result, rural people
are less likely to have access to contributory social insurance (e.g., health insurance,
unemployment benefits) and to other services, such as credit and insurance, which help to reduce
the livelihood risks of the pandemic. Of course, the degree of integration of rural spaces into
global/national markets, pre-pandemic poverty and food insecurity rates, and institutional
capacity is highly variable. This variability is reflected by the maturation and complexity of a
country’s food system.