New index shows slight improvement in SA food security, but FoodForward says it's not reflected on the ground

There has been a marginal improvement in food security in South Africa over the past year, according to independent research by economists at Stellenbosch University.

Shoprite Holdings commissioned the latest South African Food Security Index to mark World Food Day on 16 October.

In 2024, the Index score increased to 56.4 - up from 44.9 in 2023.

The Eastern Cape stood out as the one province which did not show an improvement in Index values.

Four factors are measured, using annually released data: accessibility to food, affordability, dietary diversity, and stability.

While food prices in SA have been rocketing since the COVID pandemic, food price inflation has eased in the past ten months.

When food inflation declines, it does create more stability for households says Professor Dieter von Fintel, development economist at Stellenbosch University.

"It allows households to plan their budgets better so that they can start thinking about better food choices and also be able to reduce hunger within their households. We see this playing out in the fact that the rate of hunger - while not coming down a huge amount, has remained stable. We also see it in the fact that people report slightly higher levels of satisfaction with the types of food that theyre able to consume."

Prof. van Fintel says it is really concerning that the trend was not reflected in the Eastern Cape, because it is a province with severe socio-economic distress where the high rate of unemployment is clearly a predictor of whether households can afford to buy food and afford to buy healthy food.

A different picture of the country's overall food security emerges in conversation with Andy Du Plessis, MD of the food redistribution organisation FoodForward SA.

Du Plessis says that in fact they have seen an increase in food insecurity.

A study the organisation commissioned from the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at UCT, shows household food insecurity has grown exponentially over the last five years.

"It's worse than just after the pandemic, and stunting levels have also increased - 29% of our children under five years are stunted', Du Plessis says.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to this important conversation