F OOD SECURI T Y
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outh Africa is a paradox. We are not a famine country, as demonstrated by the ample stock on store shelves. We are a net exporter of food and, according to estimations by CSIR scientists, we produce enough to feed everyone in the nation. Research conducted by Professor Suzan Oelofse, principal researcher: sustainability, economics and waste at the CSIR, and her team reveals that our local food systems compare more aptly with those in first-world countries. “We are a convenience-driven society. We buy food at supermarkets and our supply chain in South Africa mirrors what is happening in Europe and other developed countries more closely than the situation in sub-Saharan Africa. The wastage we see at the production and packaging stage is very market-driven,” Oelofse says.
CONVENIENCE BREEDS FOOD INSECURITY The convenience of accessing food may aggravate food insecurity – the CSIR estimates that around 45 per cent of locally produced food is wasted. Some of that is due to poor agricultural practices such as farmers creating surplus crops because they aren’t informed about market trends. Some production waste stems from shedding food that seems blemished or is the wrong size for established production lines. Supermarkets waste because they anticipate some of their stock will not move before it expires. And consumers tend to underplan meals, often making too much food or poorly rotating what they buy. This pattern raises the price of food, but the prices are also influenced by wastage because the management costs of waste are already factored into the cost of food. “The more food we waste, the more it pushes up the prices and becomes increasingly inaccessible to the poor,” says Oelofse. South Africa has food, but ensuring convenient availability and good-looking products widens the food insecurity gap.
WASTE AND FOOD SECURITY South Africa has plenty of food. So, why are millions of people going hungry? By JAMES FRANCIS
IMAGES: SUPPLIED
A PLAN FOR SUSTAINABILITY Companies subscribe to sustainability strategies that complement benchmarks such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. For example, AECI’s goals are: • improving yield through sustainable agriculture • making water conservation easier • making farming more inclusive • making food healthier and more affordable • reducing food waste • redistributing unsold food • reducing the need for chemical cleaning in food transport • increasing food security during COVID-19.
“The more food we waste, the more it pushes up the prices and becomes increasingly inaccessible to the poor.”
Food insecurity in South Africa is aggravated by our high-convenience consumer culture.
– Professor Suzan Oelofse
IT STARTS WITH CONSUMERS
CLOSING THE GAP The problem requires several interventions and creative thinking. Much of the current action happens at the agriculture and production levels – especially as more shareholders demand sustainability bona fides from companies, says Roger Falck, managing director of AECI Food & Beverage: “The biggest shareholders want to know what you’re doing in terms of sustainability – not just food sustainability, but also areas such as responsible chemical manufacturing, explosives and water.” Beyond having sustainability strategies, companies like AECI are awake to the necessary sustainability requirements that address problems such as food insecurity. For
example, AECI, Spar and Woolworths run small farmer development projects and AECI invests in Khula!, a homegrown app that connects smallholding farmers to produce markets. Similar efforts are going into food production, Falck adds. “Poor processing practices, plant downtime, power and water disruptions all cause losses. We try to make sure that there’s better yield and better productivity in customer plants, reducing waste.”
Focusing on agricultural yield and increasing nutritional value plays a big role in reducing food insecurity.
Improving production efficiency and entry to markets for smallholder farmers is crucial for ensuring greater access to food.
The size of South Africa’s market makes it uneconomical to produce certain foods, ingredients and additives locally, and it takes longer to capitalise better processing technologies. But we can be creative. Plenty of food is rejected at the farming or processing stages because of its size or blemishes. If we could manually sort that produce and have shops that sell such food at cheaper rates, it could reduce unemployment and create greater access to food. Oelofse says there are two areas to focus on: improving planning and reducing wastage at farms and processing plants, and raising awareness among consumers about how we enable food insecurity through our habits. “If we have awareness, then we become more concerned about how we treat our food at household level and we start thinking differently.”
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