Time for SA to restore the food imbalance, writes Dr Sandra Boatemaa. South Africa is noted for its diversity in race, culture, ethnic groups and beautiful landscapes. With this great diversity, history and accomplishments, the provision and access to basic food for a dignified standard of living...
Studies show that many South Africans battle to put food on the table. Nomonde Mxhalisa writes about a project to help small farmers feed themselves and their communities. My earliest memory of hunger is not my own but my mother’s. I have my own often complicated relationship...
TATJANA VON BORMANN AND BRIDGET CARLE Since 1994, the South African diet has changed rapidly. Today more fizzy drinks, processed foods, meat, total kilojoules and fewer vegetables are being consumed – and the price is being paid for it in terms of health. There has been a...
The Food Security Initiative based in Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of AgriSciences has welcomed its first postdoctoral researcher. Dr Sandra Boatemaa will be researching matters related to food systems governance in Southern Africa. It is a challenge that Dr Boatemaa is looking forward to. She previously worked...
Apply now for 2018 intake of postgraduate programme about food provision, food security and policy A developer of new food products, a teacher at a youth prison and a nutritionist are among those breaking new ground as the first group of students to follow the...
In this blog post, Laura Pereira explains the idea of a ‘Transformation Lab’ (T-lab). T-labs are being used in the Pathways Network project in 6 countries to try to enable socio-ecological transformations. In the post, Laura uses an example of a completed T-lab from the GRAID...
FoodForward SA is an organisation that drives food banks. Essentially, they collect edible surplus food from manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, and then redistribute this food to verified NPOs that collectively feed thousands of hungry people daily. In conjunction with Werksmans Attorneys and the CSIR, they...
by Dr Scott Drimie, view this article, originally posted in Business Day, here. It’s absurd to think that farmers today produce about 50% more food than is necessary to feed the world’s population yet hunger remains such a pervasive issue in so many parts of the...
Dr Scott Drimie is Director of the Southern Africa Food Lab. Though touted in social media as something of a women’s lib issue; the importance of support for breastfeeding mothers goes far beyond that. At under 8%, South Africa has the lowest rate of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)...
Two years ago, I found out through a United Nations Development Programme report that approximately 60 % of the world’s available arable land is in Africa. Naturally, this made me wonder why Africa is not the bread basket of the world, especially given the global...
In a country where malnutrition and inequality are rife, retailers must embrace the challenge to sell the same products at prices that are more broadly affordable if their businesses are to succeed into the future. In fact, addressing poverty – which affects more than a...
As the organics sector steadily grows in South Africa, there is support for smallholder farmers’ inclusion. The recently released SAOSO Organic Standards for Production and Processing include Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) as an alternative to third party certification, enabling market access for smallholder farmers. PGS...
The Southern Africa Food Lab’s Workshop on Shifting the Food System in November was an exploration of a diverse group’s perceptions of the South African food system at which insights and expertise were shared, coalescing around areas of interest and passion, as potential catalysts and...
A four-day Transformation Lab (T-Lab) recently hosted by the CST and the Southern African Food Lab brought together a group of nearly 40 academics, farmers, chefs, entrepreneurs and social activists to imagine ways of shifting a food system that in many ways appears entangled in...
New research on the rising cost of food gives the issue an alarmingly visceral dimension, write Ralph Hamman, Scott Drimie and Eckhard Smuts....
In a significant moment last Saturday, members of the Western Cape farming community and broader agricultural industry joined together to endorse the South African Organic Sector Organisation’s (SAOSO) proposed Organic Standards....
In a nation fraught with food insecurity, smallholder farmers have an important role to play; we provide food for the local communities and we provide employment, reducing rural poverty....
The topic of an increased minimum wage has sparked fierce debate. The issue is by no means simple. ...
“Cross-sectoral collaboration is essential if we are to improve food security in the country,” notes Dr Scott Drimie, Director of the Southern Africa Food Lab. “There are no quick fixes to the issues we face, but by bringing together the very different, and sometimes even...
The current drought has brought the issue of food security in South Africa to the fore. In recent months, the CPI food inflation rate was 12,3% while the monthly cost of a nutritionally balanced “food basket” has catapulted by a shocking 25%. Most affected by...