Impumelelo Case Studies - Food Security
Building capacity for service delivery
IMPUMELELO CASE STUDIES FOOD SECURITY
Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre
Impumelelo series of best practice
5th Floor Constitution House 124 Adderley Street, Cape Town 8001 PO Box 1265, Cape Town 8000 Tel: 021 424 6360 Fax: 021 424 70 96 Email: info@impumelelo.org.za Website: www.impumelelo.org.za
THIS MAGAZINE IS SPONSORED BY THE HCI FOUNDATION
Funded by the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundation of South Africa, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Cover.indd 2-3
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Impumelelo series of best practice No: 11 Building capacity for service delivery
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“OUR APPROACH TO SOCIAL CHALLENGES IS CEMENTED IN THE HOPE AND CONFIDENCE THAT WE HAVE IN OUR PEOPLE, OUR COMMUNITIES, OUR COUNTRY, AND OUR FUTURE”
VIRGINIA ENGEL: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER The HCI Foundation is the vehicle for the social investment programme of Hosken Consolidated Investments Limited (HCI). HCI is an investment holding company with interests in a range of sectors, including hotels and leisure, media and broadcasting, gaming, textiles, financial services, engineering and construction, mining and information technology. Over the last decade HCI has grown into one of the largest most empowered companies on the JSE. The HCI Foundation contributes towards the improvement of the lives of South Africans in need, including the quality of life and future prospects of employees of subsidiary companies and associates of the group. The HCI Foundation’s national programme has four primary areas of focus in 2011 – education, health, welfare and development, and the environment. The Foundation supports children and youth to access the education system, with a particular focus on early childhood development and tertiary education. It is at these points in the education system that a young person’s potential is first nurtured and ultimately realised. The Foundation’s flagship programme is the national Bursary Programme, through which a maximum of 1200 students at higher learning institutions throughout South Africa receive bursaries on an annual basis. As the custodian of the social responsibility of the HCI Group, as well as being an independent Trust, the HCI Foundation regards social investment as a corporate responsibility which aims to progressively draw the Group closer to the social issues which are integral to the business context.
TRUSTEES: Mr J Copelyn (Chairperson), Mrs V Engel (CEO), Mr M Golding, Mr VE Mphanda, Prof. Mr Tshabalala, Ms M Nkonyane, Mr Y Shaik, Mr TG Govender, Mr J Dammert, PJ Abrahams
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Series Editor: Writer: Design: Printed by: Principal Photographer: Photographs by: 124 Adderley Street, 5th Floor, Constitution House Cape Town, 8001 PO Box 1265, Cape Town, 8000
Tel: Fax:
021 424 6360 021 424 7096
Email: info@impumelelo.org.za
Rhoda Kadalie Brooke Peterson Whitney Kadalie Dourando Printing Candice Jansen Candice Jansen Ellen Elmendorp Julian Goldswain Marie Viljoen Brooke Peterson Alistair Harris
ISBN 978-0-620-48942-3 Published by Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre First Published 2011
For more information about award-winning social innovation in South Africa visit www.impumelelo.org.za
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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: The Meaning and Importance of Food Security
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What is Food Security?
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Why does Food Security Matter?
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CHAPTER 2: Food Insecurity in South Africa
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Is South Africa Food Secure?
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What Perpetuates Food Insecurity in South Africa?
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CHAPTER 3: South Africa’s National Food Security Plan
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What is the South African Government doing to Encourage and Protect Food Security?
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Are South African Programmes and Policies in line with International Recommendations? What could be improved? And how?
THE CASE STUDIES
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CHAPTER 4: Commercial Farming and Food Production
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CASE STUDY 1
Amadlelo Agri
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CASE STUDY 2
Community-Based Seed Production Project
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CASE STUDY 3
Makana Meadery
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CHAPTER 5: Home, Community, and School Food Gardens
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CASE STUDY 4
Abalimi Bezekhaya
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CASE STUDY 5
Soil For Life
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CASE STUDY 6
Schools Environmental Education and Development
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CASE STUDY 7
The Enviro-Permaculture Project
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CHAPTER 6: Food Banking CASE STUDY 8
51 Foodbank South Africa
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CHAPTER 7: Rehabilitating Malnourished Children
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CASE STUDY 9
Philani Child Health and Nutrition Project
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CASE STUDY 10
Ndlovu Care Group
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CHAPTER 8: Protecting the Food Security of those Affected by HIV/AIDS
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CASE STUDY 11
Hlokomela Project
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CASE STUDY 12
CHoiCe Trust
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CASE STUDY 13
Etafeni Day Care Center Trust
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CASE STUDY 14
iKamva Labantu
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CHAPTER 9: Lessons for the Future
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CHAPTER 1: The Meaning and Importance of Food Security
What Is Food Security?
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HILDREN GROW UP HEARING sayings such as “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” and “Honger maak rou bene soet” (hunger makes raw bones taste sweet). Around the world people recognize the necessity of nutrition to health and the misery of not having enough to eat. Millions of people are nevertheless unable to eat regular, nutritionally adequate meals, and increasing food security has become an important health and development goal.
Figure 1: Causes of Food Insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has defined food security as “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (Food and Agriculture Organization, 1998). This means that in a “food secure community,” healthy food is available, accessible, and safely prepared all year, every year. Food security, in fact, is often thought of in terms of the “5 A’s”: availability, accessibility, adequacy, acceptability, and action (see box). Breaking food security down into these components helps to determine why people are food insecure. Only when countries market enough food to feed their citizens, and all individuals can access and prepare enough acceptable food to stay healthy, is food security achieved. Food secure people are able to eat balanced diets with the right amounts of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and micronutrients.
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The 5 A’S of Food Security: Availability:
Is there enough food to feed everyone?
Accessibility:
Can people get the food? Can they afford it?
Adequacy:
Does food meet nutrition requirements and is it prepared safely?
Acceptability:
Is the food culturally appropriate?
Action:
Are policies in place to protect and promote food security?
THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SECURITY
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Why Does Food Security Matter?
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EALTH, GROWTH, AND development all depend on food security. Generally, those who are poorly nourished are more likely to get sick and less likely to recover. The food insecure, in fact, bears a greater burden of “all the major killers of today – HIV/ AIDS, TB, malaria, acute respiratory infections (ARIs), and diarrheal diseases” (World Food, 2007, p. 61). Currently 61% of diarrhoea cases, 57% of malaria cases, 53% of pneumonia cases, 45% of measles cases, and 53% of other infectious disease cases can be traced back to underweight (Black, Morris, & Bryce, 2003, p. 2226). Over half (53%) of the ten million children’s deaths each year are sadly attributable to under-nutrition (Black et al, 2003, p. 2226). In sub-Saharan Africa, one in 7 children dies before the age of 5. The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is precisely the framework adopted by United Nations (UN) to tackle extreme hunger and poverty, primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, infectious diseases, and environmental sustainability. Country-specific approaches are needed to tackle all of these challenges simultaneously, and food security is an important variable to measure how well countries are doing, as demonstrated by this booklet.
THE DIRECT MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES OF FOOD INSECURITY Malnutrition: the physical condition resulting
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from consuming improper amounts or combinations of energy and nutrients. Under-nutrition: malnutrition from consuming too little energy or too few nutrients. The consequences of under-nutrition: • Stunting: too low a height for one’s age; • Underweight: too low a weight for one’s age; • Wasting: too low a weight for one’s height; • Micronutrient deficiency: the condition resulting from consuming and/or properly digesting too few nutrients. Over-nutrition: malnutrition from consuming too much energy or too many nutrients The consequences of over-nutrition: • Overweight: too high a weight for one’s height; • Obesity: a more severe form of overweight. Food insecurity’s link to HIV/AIDS is especially important to understand. Unfortunately the relationship is cyclical: food insecurity exacerbates the situation for those living with HIV/ AIDS and those who are HIV positive are more likely to become food insecure. The danger of food insecurity for HIV/AIDS is threefold. First, hunger and poverty can prompt one to make negative choices – such as engaging
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Figure 2: The Reinforcing Cycle of HIV-infection and Food Insecurity
in high-risk behaviour – that increase one’s likelihood of HIV infection (World Food, 2007). Second, food insecurity can weaken one’s immune system such that one is biologically less able to resist infection and slow disease progression (World Food, 2007). Finally, food insecurity reduces ARV effectiveness and worsens drug side effects (ibid). Improving food security is thus crucial to fighting HIV/ AIDS. The path from HIV infection to becoming food insecure is also easily explained. First of all, HIV positive persons have harder-tomeet demands for food. Studies show that the healthiest HIV patients eat greater-thannormally-recommended quantities of meat and vegetables (ibid). Because of evidence like
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this, the WHO (2008, p. 69) now recommends that HIV-positive persons consume increased amounts of both calories and micro-nutrients. The catch, however, is that HIV-positive persons are often less able to work or farm and are thus less able to access food. This can quickly make households food insecure. Such a pattern can also have national consequences: the FAO, for example, predicts that 19.9% of South Africa’s agricultural work force will be lost to HIV/AIDS by 2020 and that the decline of the workforce and productivity will decrease food supplies and increase food prices (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2001). In any case, it is clear that this Catch-22 situation of HIV and food insecurity is life-threatening to vast regions in the world and needs to be reversed if we are serious about achieving the United Nation’s
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Millennium Development Goals. Success at school and work also depends on food security. Children stunted in the first two years of life have significantly lower intelligence test scores and school performance (Mendez & Adair, 1999). By adulthood, each 1% loss of height is associated with a 1.4% loss of productivity (Bloom, Canning, & Sevilla, 2001). This quickly affects lifetime earnings: undernutrition is generally blamed for income losses of 10 percent (Shekar & World Bank, 2006). Food security, on the other hand, helps both increase individual achievement and reduce household poverty. Food security is also essential to growth and
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development at the national level. In India, for example, an estimated 1-3.6% of GDP (USD 10 – 28 billion) is lost because of malnutrition (Measham & Chatterjee, 1999), and in South Africa an estimated 0.4% of GDP is lost because of micronutrient deficiencies alone (World Food, 2007, p. 163). Thankfully, investing in nutrition has high economic returns: a World Bank publication pins the benefit-to-cost ratios of different nutrition interventions between 5 and 200 (Shekar & World Bank, 2006, p. 1). Increasing food security will also help countries meet at least six of the eight Millennium Development Goals (Darnton-Hill, Bloem, & M Chopra, 2006). Good nutrition is necessary to stop cycles of poverty and catalyze growth and development.
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