The Assessment of Food Insecurity in South Africa
by LABADARIOS, D., MCIZA Z., and WEIR-SMITH, G, 2009Research Report. Centre for Poverty Employment and Growth, Human Sciences Research Council
Labadarios et al. provide a synopsis of national data sets that may contribute to a better understanding of how food security is conceptualised and assessed in the South African context. A number of such data sets, with different parameters, have been used to inform policy and strategies aimed at addressing food insecurity – the National…
read more >>The Gendered Dimensions of Food Security in South Africa: A Review of the Literature
by REDDY, V., and MOLETSANE, R, 2009Research Report. Centre for Poverty Employment and Growth, Human Sciences Research Council
Reddy and Moletsane provide a broad literature review of the gendered dimensions of food security in South Africa. The paper assesses local meanings and contextual issues that influence the relations between gender, policy, and food insecurity. The report addresses: (1) the socio-political context of gender and food insecurity, (2) the policy context, (3) some theoretical…
read more >>The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Food Security and Nutrition in South Africa
by LADZANI, R, 2009Research Report. Centre for Poverty Employment and Growth, Human Sciences Research Council
An estimated 33.2 million people worldwide were living with HIV and AIDS in 2007. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of HIV-infected persons (about 70%), yet it accounts for only 11% of the world population. South Africa is reported to have the highest number of HIV-infected persons in the world, with about 5.5 million people…
read more >>Food Security Definitions, Measurements and Recent Initiatives in South Africa and Southern Africa
by HART, T, 2009Research Report. Centre for Poverty Employment and Growth, Human Sciences Research Council
The international debate on food security has changed during the past thirty years, culminating in a more robust but nuanced understanding. No longer is the availability of food at national level sufficient; all people must be able to access enough nutritious food at all times, no matter how marginal the areas in which they reside….
read more >>Exploring Statistics South Africa’s national Household Surveys as Sources of Information About Food Security and Subsistence Agriculture
by ALIBER, M, 2009Research Report. Centre for Poverty Employment and Growth, Human Sciences Research Council
Aliber explores the usefulness of three Statistics South Africa surveys on household food insecurity and subsistence agriculture: the Income and Expenditure Survey, 2005/06 (food expenditure, food basket composition and dietary diversity); the General Household Survey (the nature and location of households experiencing hunger); and the Labour Force Survey (the involvement of black people in farming).The…
read more >>Food security in South Africa
by ALTMAN, M, HART, T & JACOBS P, 2009Research Report. Centre for Poverty Employment and Growth, Human Sciences Research Council
The Human Sciences Research Council project on household food security in South Africa focused on measuring food security, the role of smallholder production, and the impact of gender and HIV and AIDS on food security. Some the key findings include:·There has been a dramatic fall in the experience of hunger since 2002, but under-nutrition remains…
read more >>Tshepo Khumbane—Growing South Africa’s Women and Landscape
by HART, T and BAIPHETHI, M, 2008Agenda, 22(78), 156-162.
The South African government has made numerous attempts to integrate women into the economy using different strategies. Many of these have been unsuccessful and others are unsustainable, requiring continued expenditure. Tshepo Khumbane, a development activist for more than 40 years, argues that the strategies are poorly focused. According to her, the various attempts do not…
read more >>Women in Urban and Peri urban-Agriculture: Sustaining Livelihoods in the Cape Metropolitan Area
by JACOBS, P and XABA, T, 2008Agenda, 22:78, 186-197
Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) has emerged as one of the responses to multiple livelihood challenges that poorer city dwellers face. Urban women engage in UPA to produce food for their households and increasingly also to earn an income from the sale of surplus output. This article uses evidence from a sample of farming projects…
read more >>Contribution of smallholder production to Food Security: Some approaches and evidence from sub-Saharan Africa
by MATSHE, I.,Poor households access their food from the market, subsistence production and transfers from public programmes or other households. In the past rural households produced most of their own food, but recent studies have shown an increase in dependence on market purchases by both urban and rural households, in some cases reaching 90% of the food…
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