South Africa was ranked 59th out of 113 countries in the 2022 Economist Impact Global Food Security Index and 1st out of 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. (File photo)
Spiraling food inflation and high levels of personal debt mean South Africans face greater food insecurity than a decade ago, with one in four children in poor families stunted due to hunger.
This is according to two new reports released this week showing that households are sacrificing their food budgets by reducing access to a variety of nutritious foods to pay for energy, transport and debt. There is.
According to the South African Food Security Index 2024, developed by economists Dieter von Fintel and Dr. Anja Smith from Stellenbosch University and published by Shoprite Group, Africa's largest food retailer, food security is This is the lowest level in over 10 years.
The new index assesses four dimensions of food security from 2012 to 2023: availability, access, use and overall stability, and uses publicly available and updated data to assess South Africa's food security each year. Create a baseline for measuring food security.
Presenting the findings at a media briefing this week, von Fintel said the food security index (where 100 represents excellent safety and 0 represents severe insecurity) has declined over the past decade.
The 2015-16 drought affected food production, and the index plummeted to 57.1 from 52.4 in 2012 after the global financial crisis.
“Shortly after that, we saw a very good recovery, with the Food Security Index peaking at 64.6 in 2018-19. Just as we were recovering from the previous shock, the Covid-19 19), the pandemic has posed major challenges to South Africa's food security,” von Fintel said.
At the start of the lockdown, the food security index fell to 56.7, and this trend further strengthened until 2023, when it fell to 45.3.
“It's not just lockdowns that are causing these problems,” he says.
“Inflationary pressures are a real problem for South Africa and the world at large, and this only comes from international food supply issues, with the Ukraine war preventing food from flowing into South Africa and the rest of the world. “There is also ongoing drought, which is having an impact on the ability of local producers to produce enough food,” he said.
Mr von Fintel said South Africa's nutritional performance did not match its level of economic development in terms of outcomes such as stunting.
South Africa was ranked 59th out of 113 countries and 1st out of 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the 2022 Economist Impact Global Food Security Index. However, while South Africa is outperforming African countries, it is underperforming economic peers such as Brazil.
“Hunger persists in South Africa. We have seen this as the COVID-19 crisis is ending. Hunger rates are increasing and It's the first step. [measure] “Because it suggests that there is food for us to eat in the first place,” von Fintel said.
However, he noted that while the availability of raw food has declined from 2.8 tonnes per person per year in 2017 to 2.6 tonnes per person in 2022, it still provides enough food for a healthy diet while meeting minimum calorie requirements. Although the number of people not meeting the requirements has decreased, he said it is still sufficient. Food is still available. In 2001, 1.8 million people did not have access to enough food to meet their needs, rising to 4.7 million in 2021.
Crop yields also declined in 2023, with continued drought expected to further reduce yields in 2024, while geopolitical instability also affected food availability.
Von Fintel said that apart from food availability, households also faced challenges such as unemployment and food affordability.
“The problem remains that one in 10 households has a child who goes hungry. If we focus on the poorest households, this number goes up to 1 in 4 children in the poorest households. “It means there is,” he said.
“The socio-economic status of a household is one of the factors that determines whether children go hungry and determines their access to food. Do people have enough money to buy food?”
He said the research shows that although South Africa is nationally food secure, households are food insecure and have access to a variety of nutritious diets to function optimally at work and school. He said it suggests that it cannot be done.
“Hunger is much higher in rural areas. The risk factors are…jobs are so scarce in rural areas that food affordability is a big issue. “We found that hunger rates were much higher for men than for men,” von Fintel said.
“As well as hunger, households also report not being able to afford the variety of food they want, and this alarming figure is reported to be on the rise. By 2023, almost four One-in-ten, 23.6%, have reduced the variety of food they consume due to financial constraints,” he said.
He said this is probably an understatement because households are not aware of the types of foods needed for a healthy diet.
“Interestingly, however, this figure is very consistent with the figure that one in four children is stunted, which is exactly the kind of nutrition that would reach every household in the South.” “This is one of the main signs of the fact that we are not provided with the ability to function in our daily lives in Africa,” he said.
The country is still recovering from the economic hardship and job losses brought on by the coronavirus era, but inflationary pressures remain an issue.
“Food inflation has been much faster than general inflation, and households have had to sacrifice their food budgets as they redirect their income to addressing other economic needs. Even if each household does not have enough Even if they do have enough food, they will start buying cheaper food that may be less nutritious,” von Fintel said.
But there are concrete steps that can be taken to combat food insecurity, he said. For example, affordable and accessible foods, such as chicken liver, that caregivers can provide to children to prevent stunting. Canned fish such as sardines. eggs and chicken. Peanut butter. Milk, Mars, plain unsweetened yogurt. Dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach and native leafy greens, yellow, orange, and deep red vegetables and fruits such as carrots, tomatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, apricots, and mangoes.
He said these foods should have zero value added tax to make them affordable, funding should be given to communities to develop food gardens, and nutrition for the first 1,000 days of a child's life. He said that intervention should be a priority.
“Stakeholders need to be mobilized at multiple levels: national, intermediate and local. “Targeted interventions are needed. This should include the provision of appropriate protein-rich foods in early childhood development centers and early learning programs,” he said.
Sanjeev Raghbir, Chief Sustainability Officer at Shoprite Group, said one of the most worrying observations is that child hunger remains a huge problem, with a quarter of children stunted. He said that.
He said that while the index highlights that food security is likely to worsen over the next decade unless immediate intervention is implemented, it also points out that South Africa has significantly reduced hunger levels in the past. He said that it also shows.
“The findings of the 2024 South African Food Security Index further fuel our daily focus on affordability and accessibility to ensure our most price-sensitive customers can put food on the table. ”Raghbir said.
The Altron FinTech Household Resilience Index (AFHRI) for Q2 2024, released on Wednesday, shows that high interest rates are having a negative impact on consumer finance, raising the average household's debt cost burden to the highest level in 15 years. It highlights that there is.
Economist Roelof Botha, who compiles the index on behalf of Altron Fintech, believes the South African Reserve Bank's monetary policy committee's restrictive stance has resulted in “significant costs to the economy”. There is.
“One of the most worrying trends in the latest AFHRI is that the ratio of household income to cost of debt has declined by 3.3% year-on-year.
“Just two years ago, in the first quarter of 2022, households were sacrificing 6.7% of their disposable income to pay the cost of debt. This ratio has since risen by 36%, and now households are sacrificing 6.7% of their disposable income to pay the cost of debt. 9.1% of the disposal income must be spent on debt repayments,” Botha said.
