This document summarizes the results of phone surveys conducted in June, August, and October with rural households in Senegal to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their welfare. It finds that while the fear of not having enough food and water insecurity have slightly declined from August to October, households continue to resort to coping strategies and food insecurity remains a problem. Dietary diversity improved but remains lower for women. Morbidity rates increased between survey rounds.

1. Impact of COVID-19 on the welfare of
rural households in Senegal – round 3
Wim Marivoet and Abdallah Cisse (IFPRI-AFR)

2. COVID-19 in Senegal (1)
▪ First case was on March 2, 2020
▪ Swift government action:
oContact tracing & isolation, 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 23 March 2020, lifted on 30 June 2020

3. COVID-19 in Senegal (2)
▪ Round 1 (June 16th) : 5247 cases, 70 deaths, 1651 in intensive care
▪ Round 2 (August 3rd): 10887 cases, 225 deaths, 3475 in intensive care
▪ Round 3 (October 1st) : 15019 cases, 311 deaths, 2169 in intensive care

4. Phone Survey
▪ Building on a recent large, representative rural household survey conducted across
the country in 2018
▪ Data collected in FTF zones of influence; oversampling female headed households
(78/501)
▪ Phone credit of 1,000 FCFA offered for each completed survey
▪ First wave of phone survey conducted in June with 500 households
▪ Second wave of phone survey conducted in August with the same 501 households
and an additional 255 spouses: a total of 316 women and 391 men
▪ Third wave of phone survey conducted in October with the same 494 households
and an additional 253 spouses: a total of 298 women and 373 men
▪ Focus on agricultural practices, income changes & food and nutrition security
▪ And knowledge and behavioral responses to COVID-19

5. Response rate and speakerphone
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
First attempt Second attempt Third attempt Positive responses
Head of household Spouse
More than 80% of all
respondents had their
speakerphone off at
the beginning of the
interview

6. Location of
respondents

7. Household descriptives
▪ 60 percent of spouses are involved in agriculture
▪ 23 percent of spouses does not work
▪ 78 percent of spouses decide how to spend their personal income
▪ This is against 95 percent for their husbands
▪ Two thirds of spouses earn less than their husband

8. Agriculture
▪ Average landholdings 6 hectares
▪ Most households involved in cultivation of dry cereals (millet, sorghum)
▪ Cultivation practices are traditional: little use of external inputs and non-
mechanized
▪ Most households hold some livestock, mainly small ruminants

9. 2020 Agricultural season: production cycle
7.40 7.42
9.16
8.19
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Preparation and
planting
First weeding and
fertilizing
Second weeding
and fertilized
Harvesting
Daysworkedinthelasttwoweeks
Shareofrespondants

10. 2020 Agricultural season: number of workers
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Preparation and
planting
First weeding and
fertilizing
Second weeding and
fertilized
Harvesting
Number of adults Number of children

11. 2020 Agricultural season: Labor availability compared to
pre-COVID
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Preparation and
planting
First weeding and
fertilizing
Second weeding and
fertilized
Harvesting
Less than before Same More

12. 2020 Agricultural season: seed availability and price
compared to pre-COVID
25.6%
8.91%
53.3%
46.90%
21.1%
44.19%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Availability of seed Price of seed
Less than before Same More

13. Fear of not having enough to eat
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse
(October)

14. Change in access to food compared to pre-COVID
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Yes No
Shareofrespondents
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse (October)

15. How has access to food changed?
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Food shortage
Different source
Consumed different food
Consumed less food
Spouse (October) Head (October) Spouse (August) Head (August) Head (June)

16. Coping mechanisms to deal with food insecurity
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Less nutritious foods Skipped a meal Ate less Went hungry
Shareofrespondents
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse (October)

17. Morbidity rate
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Children Adults
Shareofhouseholdswithsickmembers
August October

18. Morbidity: first symptom
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Diarrhea
Stomach pain
Vomiting
Headache
Sight problems
Cough
Fever
Diziness
Fainting
Pregnancy related
Delivery related
Children (October) Children (August) Adult (October) Adult (August)

19. Care time
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Spouse (October)
Numberofhoursinthelast24hours

20. Workload and care time of spouses – compared to before
COVID-19
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Care time (August) Care time (October) Workload (August) Workload (October)
Shareofrespondents
More than Same Less than

21. Mobility: leave the house to…. in the last 7 days (yes)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Buy food Sell food Work Medical care Meeting Socialize Collect
water/firewood
Shareofrespondants
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse (October)

22. Food consumption in the last 24 hours
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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 Vegetables
Other Vegetables
Other fruits
Spouse (October) Head (October) Spouse (August) Head (August) Head (June)

23. Dietary diversity score
4.6
4.5
4.3
4.9
4.7
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse
(October)
Diversityscore

24. Adequate dietary diversity score (>=5/10)
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.6
0.5
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse
(October)
Shareofadequatediversityscoredietary

25. Household Water Source
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Head (August) Head (October) Spouse (August) Spouse (October)
Shareofrespondents
Running water in the concession Dug well
Water purchased at the store (ex kirène) Rainwater harvesting
Home water distribution Water distribution station
Surface water (river, lake, etc.)

26. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 1/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse
(October)
Frequency of worrying about water availability
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

27. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 2/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse (October)
Frequency of changing plans due to water availability
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

28. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 3/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse (October)
Availability of drinking water
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

29. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale - 4/4 (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Head (June) Head (August) Spouse (August) Head (October) Spouse (October)
Frequency of not washing hands when necessary
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

30. COVID-19 and household welfare for the third round
▪ Fear of not having enough to eat has slightly declined from above 78 percent in
August to around 73 percent in October
▪ Almost 90 percent of respondents in October still feel their access to food has
changed since COVID-19
▪ The main changes experienced were food shortage and decreased
consumption
▪ To cope with food insecurity, households reduced their consumption of
nutritious foods and of food in general. Spouses also skipped meals more often
compared to male respondents.
▪ The household morbidity rate in October was 32 percent for children and 40
percent for adults, which is an increase by 10 and 5 percent points,
respectively, compared to the previous round.
▪ The main symptom remained fever for both adults and children.

31. COVID-19 and household welfare for the third round
▪ Workload of spouses was lower than before COVID-19, care time had largely
stayed the same; yet more spouses declared an increase in caring time
between August and October.
▪ Spouses have become more mobile between August and October, especially
to buy food and to socialize
▪ Compared to August, respondents in October consumed more legumes and
more non-leafy green vegetables. The consumption of other food groups
largely remained the same, except for meat/poultry/fish which decreased
significantly among spouses.
▪ The mean diet diversity score and the share of households with an adequate
score increased over the period from August to October.
▪ Water insecurity has further dropped between August and October, but is still
an issue

32. Conclusions
▪ Household welfare and food security have been severely compromised by
COVID-19.
▪ Households have resorted to several coping strategies.
▪ However, the fear of not having enough to eat somewhat declined
between August and October, when many rural households started to
harvest.
▪ Dietary diversity has improved between August and October; however it
remains structurally lower among spouses compared to household heads.
▪ Water and food insecurity has slightly decreased further between August
and October; yet continues to be a problem.