The document summarizes findings from phone surveys conducted in October and December 2020 on the impact of COVID-19 on rural households in Niger. Key findings include: 1) Fear of not having enough food increased slightly between surveys, especially among women. 2) Around 40% reported changes in food access, mainly due to shortages, and coped by consuming less nutritious foods. 3) Women's care time returned to pre-COVID levels while their workload slightly decreased. 4) Diet diversity improved overall but water insecurity remained an issue for 20% of respondents. 5) Many migrants returned home and remittances decreased for those who stayed abroad.

1. Impact of COVID-19 on the welfare of
rural households in Niger – Second
round data
Wim Marivoet (IFPRI-AFR)
Abdallah Cisse (IFPRI-AFR)

2. COVID-19 in Niger
▪ First case: March 19, 2020
▪ Round 1 (start October 12) : 1202 cases (9 active), 69 deaths
▪ Round 2 (start December 17) : 2506 cases (1049 active), 84 deaths
▪ Government action (with limited means):
oIsolation and testing
oAirport closed, social distancing, schools and mosques closed, large
gatherings banned
oRestrictions on public transportation and other vehicle movement
between regions
oState of Emergency declared on 27 March 2020, extended on 6
January 2021 for another period of three months

3. Phone Survey
▪ Building on two existing surveys conducted in the rural regions of Maradi and
Tillaberi (2019) and Diffa (2020)
▪ Adding survey data from EHCVM (2018-2019), the second wave extended the
spatial coverage from three to eight rural regions while increasing the number of
female respondents
▪ Phone credit of 1,000 FCFA offered for each completed survey
▪ First wave of phone survey conducted in October with 358 household heads
o Female respondents represent 14% of the sample (51/358)
▪ Second wave of phone survey conducted in December with 403 households
o Female respondents represent 28% of the sample (113/403)

4. Response rate
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
First attempt Second attempt Third attempt Positives
responses
Share
of
respondants
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)

5. 50.27%
23.37%
26.37%
Round 1 (October)
Diffa Maradi Tillaberi
Location of respondents
24%
22%
23%
12%
1%
9%
8% 1%
Round 2 (December)
Diffa Maradi Tillaberi Dosso
Agadez Tahoua Zinder Niamey

6. Household descriptives
▪ The average household size is 9
▪ Almost half of all male respondents went to a Koranic school; more than half
of all female respondents have not been to school at all.
▪ 32 percent of spouses are involved in agriculture versus 56 percent for men
▪ 26 percent of spouses do not work
▪ 83 percent of spouses decide how to spend their personal income,
compared to 99 percent for their husbands
▪ Nearly all spouses earn less than their husband

7. Agriculture
▪ Average landholdings: 4.5 hectares
▪ Most households are involved in the cultivation of cereals (rice, millet,
sorghum)
▪ Cultivation practices are traditional and non-mechanized; few use of
external inputs
▪ Most households hold some livestock, mainly small ruminants and
poultry

8. Fear of not having enough to eat
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Male Female All
Share
of
respondents
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)

9. Change in access to food compared to pre-COVID
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Yes No

10. How has access to food changed?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Food shortage
Different source
Consumed different food
Consumed less food
Share
of
respondents
Round 2 (December) Round 1 (October)

11. Coping mechanisms to deal with food insecurity
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Less nutritious
food
Skipped a meal Ate less Went hungry
Share
of
respondents
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)

12. Care time
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Number
of
hours
in
the
last
24
hours
Male Female

13. Care time of spouses – compared to before COVID-19
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
More than Same Less than

14. Workload of spouses – compared to before COVID-19
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
More than Same Less than

15. Mobility: leave the house to… in the last 7 days (yes)
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Buy food
Sell food
Work
Medical care
Meeting
Socialize
Collect
water/firewood
Share
of
respondents
Round 2 (December) Round 1 (October)

16. Morbidity rate
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Yes No

17. Food consumption in the last 24 hours
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Grains, roots and tubers
Legumes
Nuts and seed
Dairy
Meat, poultry and fish
Eggs
Dark leafy greens and vegetables
Other vitamins A-rich fruits and…
Other vegetables
Other fruits
Round 2 (December) Round 1 (October)

18. Dietary diversity score
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
Male Female All
Diversity
score
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)

19. Adequate diversity score (>=5/10)
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Male Female All
Share
of
repondents
with
adequate
diversity
score
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)

20. How did the household deal with income loss?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Using savings Selling assets Borrowing
money
Transfer from
government
Transfer from
NGO
Share
of
respondents
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)

21. How did the household deal with income loss? (2)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Foodstuffs Money Others donations
Number
of
respondents
Nature of the transfers
Government NGO

22. How did COVID-19 change access to water in December ? (1/2)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Before covid-19 After covid-19
Share
of
respondents
Source of drinking water
In its own yard / plot Elsewhere

23. How did COVID-19 change access to water in December ? (2/2)
20.8% 22.7%
79.2% 77.3%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Before covid-19 After covid-19
More than 30 min from source (round trip)
Yes No

24. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 1/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Frequency of worrying about water
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

25. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 2/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Frequency of changing plans due to water unavailability
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

26. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 3/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Unavailability of drinking water
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

27. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 4/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Frequency of not washing hands when necessary
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

28. Education – Reasons for not returning to school after re-opening
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Not sure with covid-19
Help for family business
Need help at home
Wanted to drop out of studies
Was looking for work / start
working
Others
Girls Boys

29. Migration
58.3%
14.3%
55.6%
33.3%
22.2%
66.7%
diffa
dosso
maradi
tahoua
tillaberi
zinder
0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0%
Share
of
respondents Coming back because of Covid-19

30. Migration
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Less than before Same as before More than before
Share
of
respondents
How did the amount of remittances change ?
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)

31. Conflict issues (1/4)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Occurrence of disputes
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

32. Conflict issues (2/4)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Solving of disputes
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

33. Conflict issues (3/4)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Fear of partner
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

34. Conflict issues (4/4)
70%
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
100%
Round 1 (October) Round 2 (December)
Share
of
respondents
Fear of other family members
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

35. COVID-19 and household welfare for the second round
▪ Fear of not having enough to eat is experienced by 53 percent for male
versus 75 percent for female respondents, which is a slight increase
compared to the previous round (especially for women)
▪ About 40 percent of respondents felt their access to food had changed due
to COVID-19
▪ The main change experienced was a food shortage
▪ To cope with food insecurity, households reduced their consumption of
nutritious foods or of food in general
▪ Spouses spent almost 9 hours caring in the past 24 hours compared to a
bit more than 3 hours by their husbands; caring time of spouses more-or-
less returned to the pre-COVID situation
▪ Workload of spouses has slightly decreased compared to the pre-COVID
period

36. COVID-19 and household welfare for the second round (2)
▪ Overall mobility has increased (especially for meetings) while mobility
related to medical care and (to a lesser extent) work has decreased
▪ Morbidity rate has decreased from 80 percent to 63 percent between
October and December
▪ On average, diet diversity has improved between October and December,
which had a significant impact on the share of female respondents with an
adequate diversity score (from 22 percent to 43 percent)
▪ To deal with income shocks, respondents mainly sold assets, followed by
using savings and borrowing money
▪ Water insecurity has significantly decreased between October and
December; yet still 20% of all respondents are at least sometimes worried
or need to change plans due to water unavailability

37. COVID-19 and household welfare for the second round (3)
▪ Household disputes are not frequent, but if they occur, they are never or
rarely resolved in more than 1/3rd of all cases
▪ Reasons for children not returning to school mainly relate to their
involvement in family businesses or domestic work
▪ A large share of migrants returned home due to COVID-19 (especially in
Zinder, Maradi, Diffa); those who stayed reduced their remittances