Access to food the Household Food and Nutrition Security Programme

Mpho Putu

South Africa, with a population of about 54 million, is Africa's economic powerhouse. But many of its citizens still live in abject poverty, 20 years after the nation embraced democracy following the fall of apartheid

While South Africa appears to be quite self-sufficient in terms of food, research estimate that more than 14 million South African people do not have access to nutritious, healthy and adequate food children being more affected. The general household survey in 2012, which found that 14-million people “regularly experience hunger”.

Food is a fundamental human concern and central to the health of our communities, economy, environment, and bodies. Food is basic, yet the system we have built around it is complex, and inflexible. There is growing concern that our current food system is not working well some, would say it is broken. Too many people lack access to healthy food and too many people are experiencing hunger daily.

This means that from day to day  they do not know where their next meal will come from. A further 15-million people are on the verge of hunger, so any reduction to their already meagre income will push them into chronic hunger. Hunger also cripples people in other ways. Oxfam collected anecdotes from people who said ­hunger deprived them of dignity and demeaned them in their communities.

Food security is a challenge, yet the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa state that “everyone has the ‘right to food” …

The Department of Social Development undertook a Household Food and Nutrition Security Programme in response to the crisis of poverty-stricken citizens in South Africa. The framework for the Household Food and Nutrition Security Programme was derived from the Brazilian Zero Hunger model, which had proved to be an effective strategy in addressing and combating hunger. In South Africa, the exceptionally high concentration of chronically poor people was still a major challenge in the rural areas. In spite of poverty alleviation policies and programmes since 1994, there were still high levels of hunger, poverty, reliance on social grants, unemployment and decrease in food production. The most affected areas were the North West, where 33,3 percent of households had inadequate or severely inadequate access to food, followed by the KZN at 26,9 percent. The least affected was Eastern Cape at 20, 3 percent.

The key objectives for this sector were to: ensure food access to the vulnerable sectors of society, improve nutrition security and food production capacity and foster partnerships with all stakeholders within the food supply chain. The summary of progress from the period 2014/15 to 2015/16  reflected the work done by the DSD in terms of addressing the problem of hunger and the strategies to combat this distressing social situation 9 Provincial Food Distribution Centres and 212 Community Nutrition And Development Centre have been established, proving access to food to many communities through the country. DSD has partnered with a number of NPOs to roll out this programmes.

The challenges facing the DSD were the limited departmental capacity; limited financial resources; uncoordinated nutrition programmes; and lack of a value chain approach.

The concerns that is raised in terms of this essential initiative were the budget allocation, and whether the budget is realistic and provided for. The alignment of policies on a national, provincial and regional level was also an area for concern, as there is a need for a synergistic approach. The war rooms required a uniform strategy that reached out and actively engaged with the communities.

The nutrient content of the food parcels were discussed, as the communities receiving these parcels were already suffering from severe malnutrition. The transparency and governance over this initiative in terms of identifying the correct beneficiaries and the handing over of these food parcels were of extreme importance. The entire process from profiling, bulk procurement and distribution required a system that could stamp out any chance of corruption.

The role of change agents is highlighted as of key importance in the successful implementation and efficacy of the Household Food and Nutrition Security Programme. The need to engage in the private sector and NGO’s is still a concern but the importance is not underplayed, as they will form part of the stakeholders in this crisis that government needs to address.

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