The Context

The vast majority of people who live in disadvantaged communities in South Africa lack consistent access to proper nutrition. They currently purchase most of their vegetables from commercial supermarkets and are therefore subject to escalating food prices, resulting in them choosing cheaper, less nutritious foods. There are clear links between consumption of vegetables and better health yet lack of vegetable consumption is often among the main cause of health issues, Just under half of South Africa’s population, some 27 million people, live below the global poverty line and are unable to afford the cost of nutritious vegetables.

Food security is said to exist, in accordance with its international definition, when in a society all people at all times have enough food for an active, healthy life.

Food security as an umbrella term includes:

In contrast, food insecurity exists when food is not easily accessible and households have difficulty securing. The ideal scenario would be for people living at the bottom of the pyramid to feed themselves in a financially sustainable way. An effective way to achieve this would be for people to be empowered through practical knowledge to take charge of their nutrition, through access to a dependable and affordable supply of fresh and nutritious vegetables. We need innovative, low cost solutions. This has been given even more impetus in the current battle against the impacts of Covid-19. Our main areas of focus have to be good immune system health through good nutrition. We also urgently need to focus on food security as we absorb any rise in unemployment from the economic shock of this pandemic. We need new ways to feed our people adequate food, uplifting households in supplementing their daily vegetable intake using various types of farming methods combating climate change and promoting Agro-ecological principles.