Page 1 of 12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 5

2.0 IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON FOOD SECURITY ................................................... 6

2.1 PANIC BUYING ................................................................................................ 6

2.2 DISRUPTION OF FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN ....................................................... 6

2.3 LOSS OF PURCHASING POWER ................................................................... 7

2.4 RISE IN BASIC FOOD PRICES........................................................................ 8

3.0 MEASURES TAKEN TO IMPROVE FOOD SECURITY ...................................... 8

4.0 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 11

5.0 REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 12

Page 2 of 12
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 : Employee Grievances during Lockdown ..................................................... 7

Table 2: Rise in Basic Food Prices ............................................................................ 8
Table 3: Details of Wage Assistance Scheme ............................................................ 9
Table 4: Details of Self-Employed Assistance Scheme .............................................. 9
Table 5: Details of Distribution of Basic Food Commodities ..................................... 10

Page 3 of 12
 TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Unemployment Forecast in Mauritius .......................................................... 7

Figure 2: Variation of Consumer Price Index in Mauritius .......................................... 8

Page 4 of 12
 1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Republic of Mauritius has not escaped the Covid-19 pandemic. On March 19th,
after the announcement of the first three cases of the Covid-19, a state of national
containment was declared from the next day for 14 days to prevent the further spread
of the disease. All borders were closed and the entire economy was shut down except
for essential services and a few grocery stores and pharmacies. Five days later, on
24th March 2020, the country was put under complete lockdown until 31st March 2020
with only essential services such as police, hospitals, firefighters and banks being
open. All other activities were banned during the curfew period until 31st March 2020.
On 30th March 2020, the sanitary curfew which started on 23rd March was extended
till 15th April 2020. All supermarkets, restarted operations as from 2nd April 2020. On
1st May 2020, the curfew was extended to 1st June 2020 and schools remained closed
till 1st August 2020. As from 15th May 2020, more businesses were allowed to
operate, namely bakeries, hardware stores and fish markets. On 15th June 2020, all
business and activity lockdowns were lifted, however borders still remained closed.

Page 5 of 12
 2.0 IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON FOOD SECURITY

The covid-19 pandemic affected various social aspects of the Mauritian Society, one
of which is food security. The covid-19 pandemic brought about several factors which
directly or indirectly affected food security in Mauritius, and they are listed below:

1. Panic buying due to announcement of lockdown in Mauritius,

2. Disruption of food supply chain due to lockdown in supplying countries,
3. Loss of purchasing power due to unemployment in Mauritius.

Each of the above-mentioned factors will be elaborated further in this report.

2.1 PANIC BUYING

Following the announcement of the state of national containment on March 19, the
Mauritian population tried their best so that they do not run out of food supplies. They
rushed to grocery stores, queued outside and crowded the surroundings even before
the stores were open in an attempt to secure as much food supply as possible thus
exhibiting panic buying behaviour, which put the food industry under enormous
pressure.

2.2 DISRUPTION OF FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

Another issue was the inadequate movement of food from world food markets to where
they are needed. Since Mauritius is a country which relies heavily on imports to satisfy
the food demand of its population, sanitary lockdowns and transport restrictions in the
supplying countries disturbed the food market equilibrium by disrupting the supply
chain, thus complicating the arrival of food supplies to the island. This is shown by the
decrease in total food imports by 22.7% for the first quarter of 2020 as compared to
the previous quarter.

Page 6 of 12
2.3 LOSS OF PURCHASING POWER

Furthermore, because of the sanitary curfew and the subsequent closure of most
businesses such as manufacturing plants, hotels, cinemas, gyms, restaurants, and
airline companies, the businesses revenue was hugely affected and they were
incurring heavy losses. For this reason, they resorted to reduce the cost of labour by
either laying off employees or underpaying their wages or even refusing to pay them
at all. The table below summarises employee grievances during lockdown. It indicates
the number of complaints from workers at the Ministry of Labour for the months of April
and May 2020.

Table 1 : Employee Grievances during Lockdown

Number of complaints from workers at the Ministry of Labour

April 2020 May 2020 Total
Termination of Employment 552 555 1,107
Non-Payment of Wages 349 634 983
Reduced Payment of Wages 185 154 339

Analysts at Fitch Solutions conducted a forecast for the unemployment level in

Mauritius following the Covid-19 Pandemic, and there prediction is illustrated in the
graph below.

Figure 1: Unemployment Forecast in Mauritius

With all border closed, this meant that there were no tourist arrivals since April 2020,
consequently the tourism sector was deeply affected. With the tourism sector
accounting for over 10.0% of employment in Mauritius, and other externally-oriented

Page 7 of 12
sectors facing large economic headwinds, Fitch Solutions expected labour market
conditions to deteriorate as from April 2020. They predicted that unemployment would
rise from 6.7% in 2019 to atleast 8.5% in 2020. This meant that unemployment would
rise and wages would decline, suggesting that household conditions and living
standards would decline in the months ahead.

2.4 RISE IN BASIC FOOD PRICES

Panic buying and disruption of supply chain are two major factors which played a
significant part in the rise of the prices of basic food commodities in Mauritius. This is
shown in the table below.

Table 2: Rise in Basic Food Prices

Increase in Food Prices, March to April 2020

Pulses 22.3%
Powdered Milk 10.4%
Trader’s Rice 9.0%
Vegetables and culinary herbs 6.7%
Fruits 3.5%
Fish 3.4%
Meat 0.6%

The graph below illustrates the variation of the Consumer Price Index from April 2018
to April 2020. A sudden rise in the Consumer Price Index for food and non-alcoholic
can be seen between March and April 2020, the start of lockdown period in Mauritius.

Figure 2: Variation of Consumer Price Index in Mauritius

Page 8 of 12
 3.0 MEASURES TAKEN TO IMPROVE FOOD SECURITY

The rise in basic food prices due to panic buying and disruption in food supply chain,
coupled with rising unemployment meant that food security was substantially affected
in the Mauritian Society. The government wasted no time in providing social support
to Mauritian households by implementing measures to mitigate the effect of food
insecurity.

Firstly, through the Wage Assistance Scheme, a business entity in the private sector
was entitled to funding for all its employees drawing a monthly basic wage of up to Rs
50,000 subject to a cap of Rs 12,500 of assistance per employee as follows:

1. An amount equivalent to 15 days’ basic wage bill for March 2020;

2. An amount equivalent to one month’s basic wage bill for April 2020.

Table 3: Details of Wage Assistance Scheme

Wage Assistance Scheme

15-31 Mar 2020 1-30 Apr 2020
No of businesses 13,902 13,064
No of Employees concerned 259,309 231,657
Amount disbursed (Rs million) 1,750 3,032

Secondly, through the Self Employed Assistance Scheme, an amount of Rs 5,100

was paid out to self-employed persons who suffered a loss of revenue.

Table 4: Details of Self-Employed Assistance Scheme

Self-Employed Assistance Scheme

16-15 Mar 2020 16-30 Apr 2020
No of beneficiaries 186,051 169,149
Amount disbursed (Rs million) 949 431

Page 9 of 12
Thirdly, basic food commodities were distributed to vulnerable families following the
lockdown.

Table 5: Details of Distribution of Basic Food Commodities

Distribution of Basic Food Commodities

No of Beneficiaries No of Food Packs Cost(Rs
Million)
Households in the Social 7,900 17,936 18
Register of Mauritius
Beneficiaries of Carer’s 19,779 19,779 20
Allowance
Total 27,679 37,715 38

Page 10 of 12
 4.0 CONCLUSION

The covid-19 pandemic has not spared Mauritius, forcing the island into sanitary
curfew and closing all borders and businesses with the exception of essential services.
This caused several major issues among the population, namely panic buying and
unemployment. Since other countries which supply Mauritius with food were also
under lockdown, this disrupted the food supply chain. Panic Buying and disruption of
food supply chain brought about a rise in basic prices and combined with
unemployment, this meant that the Mauritian population had less or no money and
had to pay more for the same food, thus affecting food security in Mauritius. The
government wasted no time to implement mitigating measures such as the Wage
Assistance Scheme, Self-Employed Assistance Scheme and distribution of basic food
items to vulnerable families and these measures helped the Mauritian population to
survive the food insecurity crisis. On a conclusive note, it can be said that the covid-
19 pandemic had a negative impact on food security in Mauritius, but with the quick
implementation of mitigating measures by the government, the Mauritian population
was able to navigate safely through these storms.

Page 11 of 12
 5.0 REFERENCES

Statsmauritius.govmu.org. 2020. Statistics Mauritius - Coronavirus (Covid-19). [online]

Available at: <http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/Pages/Covid-19/Covid-19-
Corona-Virus.aspx> [Accessed 10 August 2020].

Fitchsolutions.com. 2020. Government Well Positioned To Cope With Covid-19

Impacts In Mauritius. [online] Available at: <https://www.fitchsolutions.com/country-
risk-sovereigns/government-well-positioned-cope-covid-19-impacts-mauritius-21-04-
2020> [Accessed 11 August 2020].

Tourism-mauritius.mu. 2020. Mauritius Overcomes Covid-19 [online] Available at:

<https://www.tourism-mauritius.mu/en-int/mauritius/news/mauritius-overcomes-
covid-19> [Accessed 15 August 2020].

Page 12 of 12