In November 2017, the Southern Africa Food Lab convened a knowledge sharing and leadership platform with a diversity of people active in the South African food system. The purpose was to collectively address challenges to food security in the country. Participants ranged from smallholder and commercial farmers to retailers, NGO representatives, government and academia.
The national workshop, which happened at the 17 Shaft Conference Centre in Soweto, aimed
to improve understanding of the current state, drivers,trends and opportunities within the South African food system so as to identify the potential levers for large-scale positive shifts.
At the workshop, Tsakani Ngomane, representing the Ministry of the Presidency, noted that while government had a big role to play, particularly in terms of ensuring a policy environment conducive to a just and sustainable food system, we must all share responsibility for the food system to some extent. Just as every person in the country is affected by our food system, so too every one affects it simply through their purchasing behavior as consumers.
“We believe that through transferring our collective knowledge to participants and their networks, we will see greater momentum in advancing the collaborative action in addressing the identified levers key to changing in the food system,” concluded Dr Drimie.
View media releases regarding the conference here and here.
Read the Workshop Report here.