A report has revealed that one in five South African households begs for food.
The report recently published on the Conservation also said that at least 10 million South Africans didn’t have enough food or money to buy food in 2019, according to the country’s statistics agency.
Existing research on this has been conducted sub-nationally. The focus has mostly been on the poorest regions of the country. The national picture of household food insecurity has not been clear.
Another gap in understanding has been the impact of households’ coping strategies on mental health. Such strategies include eating less, borrowing or using credit, and even begging for food on the streets.
The recent study investigated food insecurity and related coping strategies among South African households and their association with anxiety and depression.
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Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a nationally representative sample of 3,402 adults in October 2021. The survey data was statistically weighted to represent over 39 million South African households.
Food insecurity was assessed using the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project questionnaire. This survey tool allowed us to categorise the households into three groups: food secure, at risk, and food insecure.
The researchers found that over 20% (1 in 5) of the South African households were food insecure. But the prevalence varied widely across the provinces.
The Eastern Cape province was the most affected (32% of households there were food insecure). We also confirmed that food access in South Africa largely depends on socio-economic status. People who are uneducated, the unemployed and those receiving a low monthly income are the most severely affected by inadequate food access.
Food insecurity was most common among coloured people (24%) – people of mixed European, African or Asian ancestry. Black people (23%) were also more food insecure than white (5%) and Asian (4%) categories.
These large differences in food insecurity rates have been attributed to former apartheid regime policies. These policies led to racial discrimination, geographic segregation, and other unsustainable settlement patterns. Hence, solutions to such inequalities require fundamental restructuring of the South African economy.
