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Nutrition-sensitive agriculture – a South African perspective

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Abstract

As environmental and social sustainability becomes more urgent, and the resilience of the industrial food system is under threat, addressing nutrition through food systems must go hand in hand with restructuring these systems for greater resilience. South Africa is a middle-income country with a highly dualistic agro-food system, dealing with the burden of undernutrition, diet-related chronic diseases and widespread micronutrient malnutrition. In South Africa, agriculture must maintain national food security while contributing to improving household food security through employment and production for own consumption; and providing access to a more diverse range of safe and quality foods at affordable prices. Agricultural activities can contribute to improved nutrition, if implemented in conjunction with direct nutrition interventions. This study gives an overview of the nutritional status of the South African population, and the history and current operations of the agro-food system. It identifies entry points for nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) to begin to address food and nutrition security challenges. Case studies were identified using grey literature. With few exceptions, these cases were not NSA initiatives per se, yet demonstrated efforts that could inform actions to strengthen the nutrition-sensitivity of the South African food system. NSA is not an all-encompassing solution to food and nutrition insecurity in South Africa, but offers a way of strengthening the nutrition-sensitivity of agricultural initiatives. Viable entry points include linking small scale production and nutrition education; combining low external input farming and nutrition education; strengthening alternative marketing channels and local food economies; monitoring food prices; and developing appropriate governance and institutional arrangements.

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Notes

  1. This perspective has been argued by Harold Wolpe, a famous South African sociologist, through his thesis on the articulation of urban and rural modes of production.

  2. Estimated to be 1.2 million farmers by van Rooyen and Nene (1995).

  3. Opposite to a monopoly where one seller faces many buyers, in a monopsony, one buyer faces many sellers. Where other countries in the world used marketing control boards to maintain lower prices to ensure a cheap supply of food and increase state revenue from agriculture, South Africa maintained high maize prices to redistribute resources from the rest of the economy (lower-end black consumers) to the commercial agriculture sector (white maize farmers) (Hall 2009).

  4. Informal stores found in informal settlements called townships across South Africa, and the Zulu word for ‘hidden shops’.

  5. See http://www.seed.org.za/

  6. See http://harvestofhope.co.za/

  7. See http://www.namc.co.za/pages/published-reports/food-price-monitoring

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Francie Van Zijl Avenue, Tygerberg, 7505, South Africa

    M. McLachlan & A. P. Landman

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  1. M. McLachlan
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  2. A. P. Landman
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Correspondence to M. McLachlan.

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McLachlan, M., Landman, A.P. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture – a South African perspective. Food Sec. 5, 857–871 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-013-0309-1

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