South Africans should not be starving

By Reneva Fourie

The days are flying by and the festive season will soon be upon us. It is during this period that economic disparities in our country become most stark and one cannot help but wonder what people will be eating.

According to Statistic SA, the proportion of the population living in poverty in 2015 was 55.5% and the percentage of children defined as multidimensionally poor was 62.1%. In 2017, Stats SA indicated that 21.3% of households had inadequate access to food. The figures undoubtedly would have increased significantly given the effects of Covid-19, the global recession, and the double-rated downgrades by Fitch and Moody’s, which have contributed to 43.1% of our population being unemployed.

While the poverty and food insecurity rates are alarming, there is no justification for even a single South African going hungry. South Africa is viewed as a middle-income country with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy and transport sectors; excellent infrastructure; and a stock exchange that is Africa’s largest and among the top 20 in the world.

There is sufficient capital to support all, should an effective redistributive taxation system be applied, and maladministration and corruption be eliminated. Top executives earn incomes of between R10 million and R60m a year, and there is no reason why the payment of a minimum wage of R3 500 a week cannot be enforced; and the provision of a basic income grant cannot be sustained.

Furthermore, we have an abundance of natural sustenance resources. South Africa has more than 1.2 million square kilometres of land. Though the rainfall levels are generally low and semi-arid conditions restrict land used for crop production to 13.5%, South Africa is said to be among the world’s top producers of maize, grapes, oranges and pears. We produce and export large tonnes of other vegetables, fruits and grains including potatoes, wheat, apples, tomatoes and bananas. We also export meat from livestock and poultry and our 2 798 km of coastline gives us rich access to seafood resources. Technically, we have no shortage of food.

Attaining food security for all is within our reach. The Committee on World Food Security states: “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The four pillars of food security are availability, access, utilisation and stability.”

South Africa has an integrated food security strategy. Its implementation, however, has not been optimally effective. One of the problems is the outsourcing of government programmes to agents to implement.

The approach to the elimination of hunger must be bottom-up and citizen-driven to provide households and communities with greater control and a sense of ownership and pride.

Subsistence farming can go a long way towards contributing to sustainable livelihoods and the eradication of hunger. By providing households and/or communities with direct access to land, water, fertilisers and seeds for the creation and maintenance of food gardens as well as goats and chickens, balanced, nutritious meals can become accessible to all. Technology has made it possible for food gardens to flourish in even urban areas with high population densities. Municipalities must play a direct oversight role, rather than outsourcing the task.

The notion of subsistence farming is not foreign. It was a common practise before colonialism and was eroded over time with the implementation of the Group Areas Act and as land restrictions increased. Post-apartheid, rapid urbanisation, further reduced the practise of household and community-based subsistence farming as purchased food became the norm. Poverty, food-insecurity, and malnutrition have reached levels that require us to resort to practises that sustained us in the past. While survival in current conditions requires access to cash, it is imperative that we once again return to producing our own food.

We also need to reduce food wastage. Food Loss and Waste: Facts and Futures states: “South Africa produces around 31 million tonnes of food every year. Of the food that is wasted, 44% is vegetables and fruits, 26% is grains, 15% is meat and the remaining 13% consists of oilseeds, tubers and roots. Much of this food wastage happens at production and retail levels.” We need to find ways of reducing the leakages and redistributing the excess food.

Daily access to a nutritious meal does not only feed the body; it also feeds the mind. By ensuring that there is food security for all, we increase productivity and mental alertness and reduce health care costs and a multiplicity of social ills. Ensure that our neighbours do not go hungry is in the interest of all South Africans.

* Reneva Fourie is a policy analyst specialising in development, governance and security, and lives in Damascus, Syria.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 07:16:06 GMTOpinion

Share this post