Dietary transition poses a severe threat Malnutrition including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity is severely impeding Africa’s development trajectory. In South Africa, access to adequate nutrition is a constitutional right and yet hunger is rife and food access is a daily struggle with...
We need a fundamental overhaul of our food system which, in its current form, is a threat to the environment and human health. This is the key message contained in a new WWF South Africa report titled “Agri-Food Systems: Facts and Futures”. The report, which looks...
By Anna Shevel As consumers, we have the opportunity to save our own lives and to conserve our planet from our forks. Our food choices have the greatest potential impact out of any daily action that we can take. By just making food choices empowered with...
In January, WWF and the Food Lab hosted thought leaders from the finance sector, insurance and investment on a learning journey regarding the nation’s future food system. “The purpose of the day was to give the private sector insight into some of the big changes...
Loubie Rusch grew up chomping on plants characteristic of the Cape Floristic Region. Rich, nutritious, but largely forgotten, Rusch believes that local indigenous plant ingredients may hold the key to restoring damaged landscapes, improving poor nutrition and improving resilience to climate change. Virtually absent from the...
by Ryan Meiring Allan Savory’s theories and beliefs developed and evolved over a lifetime in the field were met, for many years, with resistance. It wasn’t until his TED talk went viral that the scientific community really started to take notice and that his principles for...
As part of recent research conducted by Incite on behalf of the Southern Africa Food Lab and WWF South Africa, a comprehensive global review of health-related collaborative platforms and types of action involving industry participation was undertaken. The review found that industry players across the food, beverage...
“Public-private collaboration is essential if we hope to effectively address the negative outcomes of our food systems, starting with the nutritional siege our children are under,” says Tatjana von Bormann, Senior Manager of WWF South Africa’s Policy and Futures Unit. This is the key message of...
As the old saying goes, ‘If life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. The story of Umgibe is the inspirational triumph-against-all-odds tale of a woman who decided not only to make organic lemonade (metaphorically speaking), but to teach more than 600 others to do the same....
Food is a big part of who we are as humans. One study shows that the average American will spend more than 32 000 hours of their life eating and drinking. Gulp! At school, we learn about food as a means of sustenance and health. As...
It is estimated that a staggering one in five South African households is food insecure with more than 13 million South Africans routinely experiencing hunger. This, in contravention of our Constitution, which enshrines access to food as a right. In light of this and of our...
Removing VAT off peanut butter, an excellent source of protein and fats on children’s sandwiches, is not going to send our economy into the ashes. Neither is subsidising eggs, Maas, brown bread and maize meal. Nor is paying workers and pensioners a living wage. Nor...
Applications are invited for a post-doctoral research fellowship on the bio-economy, beginning January 2019. The position forms part of the SARChI Research Chair held by A/Professor Rachel Wynberg. We seek a suitably qualified scholar to join a dynamic and growing team of researchers in exploring critical perspectives relating to...
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of urbanization in the world, exacerbating issues of food and nutrition security and resulting, at least in part, in a worrying trend of increased incidences of non-communicable diseases. With their relative lack of space and infrastructure, access to adequate and...
Location: South Africa and the Netherlands Start: September 2018 The Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) seeks applications for a postdoctoral fellowship on African city food systems, beginning early September 2018. The postdoc will be based in South Africa for approximately 75%...
Three students from the USA, Germany and Vietnam, recently completed a Masters Thesis which looks at ways that social labs like the Southern Africa Food Lab are and could be evaluated. It was written as part of the Master´s program “Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability”, a...
When corporate staff from the South African finance sector arrived at Spier wine farm and were loaded into the back tray of Farmer Angus’ giant farm truck, they immediately knew they were in for something different. On 30 January 2018 the Food Lab facilitated a...
The Southern Africa Food Lab, in partnership with The Presidency, recently hosted a dialogue to foster coherence in South Africa food security policy. The dialogue was attended by 30 government officials and academics including representatives from DPME, DAFF, DCE, GDE, DBE, DEA, The Department of...
Ralph Hamann, Research Director at UCT’s Graduate School of Business and a member of the Southern Africa Food Lab’s advisory board, recently returned from a Harvard Workshop on Cross-Sector Innovation where he presented a paper based on the experiences of the Food Lab. “Through an indepth analysis...
The Southern Africa Food Lab’s work addressing smallholder development through dialogue and social innovation in the SA food system has been recognized by the UN’s 10-year framework of programmes (10YFP) on sustainable consumption and production patterns within their Sustainable Food Systems Programme. The project is now...