World Food Day statement
We need to act now in fighting high food prices
As South Africa joins the rest of the global village in observing World Food Day it is worth noting how the day is followed by the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The fact of the matter is that access to nutritious food is one of the best methods to measure poverty in families and communities. In the South African context statistics show a consistent battle to access nutritious foods by families and communities, which amounts to a condemnation to a life of poverty for many.
One of the points that have been overlooked by authorities is how lack of access to nutritious food presents a burden to the country’s healthcare system. Studies show that diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases are closely linked to lack of healthy food, and the reality is that in the year 2024 healthy food in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of South Africa has become more unaffordable than ever before.
Aside from just the cost of purchasing food, the preparation thereof has equally become expensive with the rise of electricity and water. The water rationing announcements by eThekwini Metro and Msunduzi Municipality in recent days means that struggling families and communities will become more vulnerable whilst preparing their meals.
The unfortunate outcome of the lack of access to healthy food, owing to high and unaffordable prices, is the negative impact on the growth and development of our most vulnerable, namely children. Failure to ensure that children from pre-school going -age get adequate proteins and vitamins, in addition to energy foods means that their growth and development is severely stunted. The implications of this include limited growth prospects, and equally slim chances of getting a fulfilling job. Simply put, lack of access to healthy food amounts to a condemnation of a generation of people into a cycle of poverty. What the current state of affairs requires is firstly an acknowledgement that food affordability has reached crisis proportions. After this, an action plan to end hunger which includes direct government intervention into the food ecosystem including ensuring that the most basic food items are exempt from value added tax. Aside from this, municipalities should develop plans to assist vulnerable families and communities with properly secured land, and other implements including seedlings and tools of trade that will make it possible for them to produce their own. The most obvious immediate intervention to aid the vulnerable is by placing a moratorium on prices to basic food as this will provide some form of relief, otherwise it means that World Food Day 2024 was marked by more pledges without any tangible action. Genuine leadership and will is called for in order to make a difference in what is a crisis.
