10 minute read
FOOD RELIEF
from CSI November 2021
SECURING FOOD FOR
Corporate South Africa invests heavily in ensuring food security for the country’s people, a role that has become increasingly more important over the last 18 months, THE FUTURE writes TREVOR CRIGHTON
South Africa is generally a food-secure country on a national level on account of its production and export levels. Food security, though, is about more than adequate supply – it requires accessibility, affordability, nutrition and stability over time.
Our country’s longstanding poverty problem means that the poorest people in the country cannot afford the abundant, nutritious food that is available. Consumer food price infl ation was at 6.8 per cent year on year in May 2021 – less than the double-digit infl ation seen in years of drought, but exacerbated by job losses and additional income challenges posed by COVID-19 lockdowns.
Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) do plenty of work in supporting the country’s most vulnerable people – and the food security space is no different. To be effective, though, they need support from corporates. Several companies in South Africa have partnered with reputable NGOs to attempt to help keep the country’s most food-insecure people fed.
POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS
Woolworths and FoodForward SA have been in a food security partnership since 2018, with funding from the retailer serving as a key enabler of the organisation’s expansion strategy. FoodForward SA (FFSA) is a food bank, established in 2009 to address widespread hunger in South Africa. The organisation connects a world of excess to a world of need by recovering quality edible surplus food from the consumer goods supply chain and distributing it to community organisations that serve the poor.
The partnership between Woolworths and FoodForward SA (FFSA) was initially a donation of R3-million over a three-year period, which has since been renewed and extended for another three years. “In true Woolworths style, we get involved beyond monetary donation – we partner
Rawsonville community in the heart of the Cape Winelands receiving much-needed Woolworths food parcels. Gift of the Givers is a long-term relief partner of Woolworths.
and get our hands dirty. Specialist teams in the business have provided guidance on different aspects such as food processing and food safety, among others,” says Zinzi Mgolodela, Woolworths director of corporate affairs. “Over and above the fi nancial support, the partnership also sees Woolworths stores participate in the FFSA foodshare app. The partnership with FoodForward SA helps the Woolworths Trust to realise its mission, which is to make a meaningful impact in local communities by supporting programmes that improve food security and uplift education.”
One of the FFSA programmes supported with the Woolworths funding provides meaningful employment opportunities to previously unemployed youth, thereby supporting long-term change. Sustainability can be a thorny issue in the NGO space in any area, something of which Woolworths is aware.
“We acknowledge that providing people with food care parcels is not sustainable and permanent solutions to support people’s livelihoods enabling them to secure their own supply of food is critical. But here in South Africa, we are faced with the immediate challenges of hunger, so it is necessary to do both – immediate food relief and identify opportunities to empower and support our food systems for long-term food security. This balancing act is refl ected in our food security programmes,” says Mgolodela.
Gift of the Givers is Woolworths’s long-term disaster relief partner and the company has been actively involved in supporting the organisation’s distribution of food care parcels, particularly to people directly impacted by COVID-19. “While we recognise that the distribution of food care parcels is not sustainable, devastatingly many people’s livelihoods have been impacted by the pandemic and they require immediate assistance,” says Mgolodela.
“We have invited our customers, employees, business partners and suppliers into this particular COVID-19 response initiative for broader and more meaningful impact. We leveraged on the fact that a lot of people in the country wanted to help at this time, our ‘Fill a Bag’ campaign provided a co-ordinated platform for giving.”
DISTRIBUTING SURPLUS PRODUCE
HelloChoice and Standard Bank launched their OneFarm Share pilot project in November 2020 after fi ve months of planning. HelloChoice is a digital platform that multiplies food donations and streamlines procurement directly from farmers and food producers to registered charity organisations. Standard Bank subsequently acquired 25 per cent equity stake in HelloChoice in August 2021.
“HelloChoice collaborates with audited and established food distribution partners, such as FoodForward SA and SA Harvest. The platform helps farmers get their surplus produce to the relief market fast and effectively by providing transport, logistics and warehousing support,” says Wendy Pienaar, head of ecosystems and group innovation at Standard Bank. As of the end of August 2021, 3 200 tonnes of produce have been directed to those in need; 980 of these delivered in August alone. This equates to 12.8 million meals, feeding 1 million people countrywide. Benefi ciary organisations (750 of them) are supported by an incredible 90 contributors to the programme. These include 44 emerging farmers, 39 commercial farmers and 7 food processors, Pienaar explains. The project has seen large commercial farmers come on board to donate excess production to the programme, in addition to the sustainable marketplaces it has created. “Limpopo-based farm, Blydevallei, has been growing
Wendy oranges and mangos for
Pienaar 28 years. Through the OneFarm Share platform, and with the participation of the Citrus Growers Association’s Orange Heart Fruit Initiative,
they recently donated 45 tonnes of their delicious and nutritious oranges,” says Pienaar. “The farm had surplus unpacked oranges. Through the help of FoodForward SA and Citrus Growers Association, these were packed and sent to the distribution centre before going onward to the registered charities.”
The Blydevallei Farm team have been growing oranges and mangos for 28 years.
FILLING THE TUMS OF SCHOOLGOERS
Volkswagen South Africa is the biggest employer in the Eastern Cape, so it does plenty of community-based work in the province, however, its reach also extends nationally.
It has partnered with Rise Against Hunger – a global movement aiming to end hunger by empowering communities, nourishing lives and responding to emergencies – since 2016. Volkswagen’s support is fi nancial and because it is a transport company, it also provides vehicles to help distribute the food. “A lot of organisations obtain food from food banks and retailers, so the money we provide is something of a top-up to their efforts to assist families,” says VW Community Trust manager Vernon Naidoo.
Naidoo explains that, while Volkswagen South Africa’s CSI focus is on supporting educational projects, they quickly realised that hunger is a major hurdle in learning. “A hungry family – or child – is one that struggles to learn,” he says. “We saw that a lot last year when children weren’t able to go to school under lockdown. The meals that children receive at school are, in many cases, the only ones they’ll have that day. When schools closed, we had to fi nd a way to help them.” VWSA invested to the tune of R600 000 in supplying prepacked Rise Against Hunger food packages to schools in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng, delivering over 200 000 meals. “Each pack feeds up to six adults with nutritious and balanced food – and has a long shelf-life – so we found those to be essential during lockdowns,” says Naidoo.
When it comes to tackling the sustainability question, he says that the company focuses on partnering with reputable organisations that already do plenty of sustainable work in communities. “We want these programmes to be sustainable, but, during lockdown, people couldn’t even get out to tend to farm projects. We’re in the pilot phase of looking at some sustainable projects that we’ll launch next year. But for the moment, hunger remains a challenge and we don’t look at the way we currently support our communities as a handout, but rather as an add-on.”
Vernon Naidoo
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