01 Jan The Future of Food in South Africa

Hunger and malnutrition are serious problems in South Africa, problems without a quick fix. The threats to food security are so complex and interrelated that there can be no silver bullet to solve them. Consider for a moment how unemployment impacts a person’s ability to purchase nutritious food or how decreased government support for agriculture impact the country’s ability to produce food. Consider the knock-on effects of one bad crop – like how a poor maize crop in 2015 is set to impact the price of eggs, poultry, red meat and milk. How about the impacts of climate change?

The food system is complex, but it’s too important to ignore. In order to secure the system and grant South Africans their consitutional right to adequate food, we need to have a more coherent conversation, one which results in political courage, private sector initiative and strong advocacy and support from civil society. We believe that the Transformative Scenarios Report: The future of food 2015-2030 is just the start. Visit the website dedicated to this report or watch the YouTube video on it.

The Southern Africa Food Lab conducts its activities against this complex backdrop.