The SA Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has revealed there are severe levels of food insecurity in the KwaZulu-Natal municipal districts of Zululand, uMkhanyakude, and uMzinyathi.
The report was released on Tuesday at the KZN Agricultural Extension Indaba 2024 at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban, and attended by KZN Premier Thami Ntuli, and agriculture and rural development MEC Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa.
According to Professor Thokozani Simelane of the HSRC, who was also the chief researcher of the report, severe food insecurity was more prevalent in the Zululand district where 35% of households were severely food insecure; uMkhanyakude with 17.1%; and uMzinyathi with 4.3%.
“Our report shows the situation in a household-level is very severe due to the high unemployment rate in the province and the country. As a result there is a higher dependency on social grants as a means of accessing food because people, particularly in rural areas, no longer practise agriculture.
“Households in this province need assistance so that they can produce their own food and we have made a call that in rural towns there must be food banks where residents can have access to food without having to take a taxi to town, because in the big supermarkets food prices are extremely high,” said Simelane.
The report said there is a need to increase agricultural production in each district through focused-food production and agro-processing investments.
These foods can be distributed through fruit and vegetables markets that can be located close to vulnerable households in all districts of the province, he said.
The report also revealed that water shortages and recurrent drought emerged as part of the major shocks and this implies there is a need for a well-thought-out water provision programme in KZN for household use and for agriculture production purposes.
The report said possible interventions could be the construction of dams for irrigation and domestic water-reticulation systems at household-level.
Ntuli said unemployment is linked directly to access to food and it impacts directly on food security.
“As the province of KwaZulu-Natal, we welcome the report and the outcomes which are accompanied by recommendations. We note the contents and having received this report, we expect the report to be presented to the provincial executive council after it has been processed by various structures, including the committee of heads of departments.
“We are certain that the hosting of the Agricultural Extension Indaba will increase the capacity of extension services, improve support including the quality of extension and advisory services, and optimise agricultural production and farmer development in KZN,” said Ntuli.
Madlopha-Mthethwa said the department will study the report to devise measures of resolving the food security crisis in the province.
“As the department, we need to sit down and strategise on how we are going to tackle the issue of food insecurity. Our aim is to see KZN dominate in the agricultural sector and in the process tackle food shortages in many households,” she said.
The Mercury