HANDS-ON Experience Learning January 2024 | Issue 26
OPPORTUNITY
3
PUTTING ENOUGH FOOD ON THE TABLE: SUSTAINABLE STEPS TO ADDRESS SOUTH AFRICA’S HUNGER CRISIS
Build productive synergies between communities and the environment
OPPORTUNITY
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Stop nutritional stunting of young children.
South Africa is experiencing a severe food crisis, both in terms of affordability and availability. Loadshedding (planned electricity cuts due to power supply constraints) and disruptions to supply chain systems affect food imports and exports, and therefore, the availability of food and how much it ultimately costs. Supply chain disruptions can result from war, geo-political conflicts, political interventions and pandemics. For instance, Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine in 2022 triggered a global food shortage because it threatened grain exports to the rest of the world. When food prices soar because of supply shortages or inflation, the world’s poor suffer the most. In South Africa, one third of the country’s children are excluded from adequate nutrition.1 We need to change the fact that nutritious food is too expensive and out of reach for poor households because inadequate nutrition can lead to stunting, which is a proxy measure for brain development in children, and this prevents them from reaching their full potential. This learning brief looks at an initiative focused on making nutritious food more affordable for poorer families led by DGMT and Grow Great, as well as projects by the Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL) and the South African Urban Food & Farming Trust (SAUFFT), which empower poorer communities to grow nutritious food. 1
1
Hall K. 2022. Income poverty, unemployment and social grants, in The South African Child Gauge 2021/22. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/sjzpmvfn
PUTTING ENOUGH FOOD ON THE TABLE: SUSTAINABLE STEPS TO ADDRESS SOUTH AFRICA’S HUNGER CRISIS
Issue 26 /// January 2024