THE government needs urgent coordinated action to deal with the scourge of hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity across the country.
This was after the National Food and Nutrition Security Survey (NFNSS) last week highlighted that the food and nutrition situation continues to be a cause for concern.
The survey revealed that about 63% of households were food insecure, of which 17% were critically undernourished.
The survey was commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development and conducted by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC).
It was carried out across the country’s nine provinces between 2021 and 2023. The survey also aimed to provide the government with essential baseline data to guide interventions and support households facing food shortages.
The survey also revealed that 28.8% of the children under the age of five suffered from stunting while 5.3% were affected by wasting.
About 7.7% were underweight.
“The higher food insecurity figures reported in this study could also be attributed to the challenges in open access livelihood zones, which are by and large rural communities and traditionally more food insecure due to limited climate adaptation strategies, leading to higher food insecurity levels,” reads the report.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said the NFNSS report echoed their findings in their report on child malnutrition. The commission said these statistics serve as a reminder of the urgency to address child malnutrition to ensure the right to basic nutrition for all children.
The commission said the report also reinforced its findings regarding the high levels of food waste in South Africa.
“With over 243 000 tonnes of edible food ending up in landfills annually, we call for more efficient food distribution systems and the potential implementation of food banks to combat hunger,” said SAHRC.
The NFNSS also emphasised the impact of socio-economic factors and confirmed that education, employment, and access to social grants significantly influence food security.
The SAHRC said this aligned with their recommendations for an integrated approach to address the root causes of food insecurity, such as poverty and unemployment, while advocating for policy improvements in social assistance programmes such as the Child Support Grant (CSG).
SAHRC said the urgency of this issue cannot be overstated, as 323 children had tragically died in provincial hospitals in the Eastern Cape due to conditions associated with malnutrition and hunger since April 2021.
“These deaths are not just statistics, they are lost futures, and each one represents a failure of our collective responsibility. One child’s death is already too many, and it is clear that immediate action is required to prevent further loss of life.
We are calling for the urgent adoption of a comprehensive implementation plan to action the findings and recommendations of both the SAHRC’s malnutrition report and the NFNSS, ensuring that no more children fall through the cracks,” said the commission.
The commission added that both NFNSS and their findings highlighted the importance of coordinated efforts between government, civil society, and the private sector to ensure food security.
“We have consistently advocated for the government and private sector to work together, particularly in leveraging logistics systems to redistribute surplus food to needy people.
The Department of Social Development to comment.
The FW de Klerk Foundation said Section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution guarantees the right of every South African to access sufficient food and water. The foundation said the fact that 17% of households were critically undernourished was an alarming violation of this right.
“The NFNSS findings show that many South Africans are forced to reduce meal sizes or skip meals altogether, which contravenes the government’s constitutional obligations to safeguard citizens’ basic human rights,” said the foundation.
Christo van der Rheede, Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation, said: “The disparity between food abundance at the national level and severe hunger at the household level underscores critical issues in food distribution and management.
“It is time for the government, civil society, and the private sector to collaborate to reduce food waste, improve supply chain efficiency and increase support for smallholder farmers and agribusinesses, which are key to ensuring food security.”
The national budget allocation for agriculture, the use of these funds in terms of land reform projects, and support to the entire agricultural sector to bring down the cost of production and put cheaper food on the table of South Africans must be reviewed as well.”