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...