Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Food Insecurity in South Africa

Estimates on the number of South Africans going hungry every day run into the millions according to various sources, including Statistics SA (Stats SA), researchers and organisations working to fight hunger. This is despite producing enough staple foods as well as having the capacity to import food if needed, to meet the basic nutritional requirements of its growing population. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation indicates that South Africa’s aggregate food supplies have been steadily rising for the past 20 years to 2013, not only in absolute terms but faster than population growth. Food supplies increased from around 2 800 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day in the mid-1990s to over 3 000 kcal/capita/day by 2013.  Access to that food is determined mainly by affordability.

The right to food is enshrined in both international and national law.  The Constitution is clear that every South African citizen has a right to sufficient food. This idea is reiterated in the National Development Plan (NDP) and is meant to be operationalised by the work being done throughout government and within the agricultural, manufacturing and retail sectors.

Although South Africa may be food secure at the national level, the same cannot be said about households, especially in rural areas. A sizeable number of households and individuals are still food insecure, not as a result of food availability, but largely due to a lack of purchasing power brought on by high unemployment rates and other socio-economic factors.

The latest Stats SA General Household Survey (2016) indicates that about 1.97 million households and 7.39 million persons were still vulnerable to hunger in 2016, a majority of whom are living in rural provinces. This despite the fact that, between 2002 and 2016, the percentage of households that experienced hunger decreased from 23.8% to 11.8%, while the percentage of individuals who experienced hunger decreased from 29.3% to 13.4%.

Food access problems are most common in North West, where 36.6% of households had inadequate or severely inadequate food access in 2016. Instances of inadequate or severely inadequate access to food are also observed in the Northern Cape.

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