tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/right-to-food-77443/articlesRight to food – The Conversation2022-12-12T02:14:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1953602022-12-12T02:14:46Z2022-12-12T02:14:46ZHow many Australians are going hungry? We don’t know for sure, and that’s a big part of the problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499662/original/file-20221207-16-plz1ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5151%2C3442&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Growing numbers of Australians are <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/data/taking-the-pulse-of-the-nation-2022/food-insecurity">reported to be struggling</a> to put enough healthy food on the table every day as the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-03/qld-affordability-cost-of-living-pressures-groceries-food/101289336?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web">cost of living soars</a>. But Australia doesn’t collect enough data on food insecurity. The lack of data makes it difficult for policymakers to grasp the extent of the problem, let alone take effective action to solve it.</p>
<p>Food insecurity can range from being anxious about not having enough food in the house, to eating cheaper, less healthy foods due to a lack of money, to regularly skipping meals and going hungry. </p>
<p><a href="https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/understanding-food-insecurity-australia">Estimates</a> from before 2020 suggested between 4% and 13% of the general Australian population were food insecure and 22% to 32% of the Indigenous population, depending on location. A <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-022-01347-4">recent study</a> found levels of food insecurity are worse than before the COVID pandemic.</p>
<p>In Australia, food insecurity is usually <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/2009_cfca_understanding_food_insecurity_in_australia_0.pdf">due to financial hardship</a>. This can be a result of low wages, unexpected bills, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-50-boost-to-jobseeker-will-take-australias-payment-from-the-lowest-in-the-oecd-to-the-second-lowest-after-greece-155739">inadequate government support payments</a>.</p>
<p>Food insecurity has a powerful influence on health. It leads to worse physical and mental health in both <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16030476">adults and children</a>. And the impacts get worse as the severity of food insecurity increases.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/im-scared-we-wont-have-money-for-food-how-children-cope-with-food-insecurity-in-australia-161671">'I'm scared we won't have money for food': how children cope with food insecurity in Australia</a>
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<p>Some Australians <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/no-teeth-scurvy-diagnoses-cost-of-living-drives-food-bank-pressures-20221115-p5byb1.html">turn to food charity</a> for temporary relief. But little is being done to change the root causes of food insecurity.</p>
<p>In response, Australia’s leading food insecurity researchers have joined forces to develop the <a href="https://righttofood.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Household-Food-Security-Data-Consensus-Statement2022.pdf">Household Food Security Data Consensus Statement</a>. To be launched on December 14, the statement calls for Australia to use a reliable and internationally comparable measure of food insecurity. It proposes using the full-length, 18-question <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/survey-tools/#household">United States Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Survey Module</a>. </p>
<h2>If you don’t measure it, you can’t mend it</h2>
<p>Having enough food is a basic <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/FactSheet34en.pdf">human right</a>. Yet despite Australia producing enough <a href="https://www.afgc.org.au/news-and-media/2020/06/no-need-to-panic-australia-produces-enough-food-for-75-million">food for three times its population size</a>, not all Australians have enough. </p>
<p>Federal, state and territory governments do not regularly measure and report on food insecurity. This leaves researchers, organisations and policymakers short of information about Australians experiencing food insecurity.</p>
<p>The information we have has been collected using many <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/3/476">different measurement tools</a>. This means we can’t easily compare the results. </p>
<p>And these existing tools often underestimate the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12812">true level of food insecurity</a>. This is because they don’t ask enough questions about the range of experiences of food insecurity, such as eating poor-quality food, or <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/survey-tools/">worrying about running out of food</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-only-they-made-better-life-choices-how-simplistic-explanations-of-poverty-and-food-insecurity-miss-the-mark-190430">‘If only they made better life choices’ – how simplistic explanations of poverty and food insecurity miss the mark</a>
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<p>To fill the gap, we often turn to data collected by the <a href="https://www.foodbank.org.au/research-reports/?state=nsw-act">emergency and community food sector</a>. However, food security policy and government responses must be supported by independent, rigorous data collection. That’s the only way to ensure we have an accurate picture of food insecurity in the whole population. </p>
<p>Without this data, people in power seem to have no motivation to act in a timely way to prevent Australians experiencing food insecurity.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/hunger-in-the-lucky-country-charities-step-in-where-government-fails-90017">Hunger in the lucky country – charities step in where government fails</a>
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<h2>What can be done about these problems?</h2>
<p>Other high-income countries, like <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/">Canada</a> and <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/measurement/">the USA</a>, have regular and reliable monitoring systems. These countries measure food insecurity every one to two years. Their reliable data enable them to respond with <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/what-can-be-done-to-reduce-food-insecurity-in-canada/">targeted policies</a>.</p>
<p>Australia can learn from these countries. Regular, high-quality data about food insecurity will support action at all levels of society. It will help ensure policy responses are timely and targeted.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/understanding-food-insecurity-australia">solutions</a> are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101804">many and varied</a>. Actions might include:</p>
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<li><p>collaborations at the local level – for example, Western Australia’s <a href="https://foodcommunity.com.au/home/page/about_food_community">Food Community</a> project is working with community members to develop place-based solutions in different regions</p></li>
<li><p>emergency food relief</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.13255">school-based initiatives</a> such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-starting-to-provide-food-but-we-need-to-think-carefully-before-we-ditch-the-lunchbox-193536">meal programs</a> that provide food and help children understand healthy eating</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12082197">education programs</a> that develop nutrition knowledge and cooking skills in people at risk of food insecurity</p></li>
<li><p>broad policy interventions, including increasing government support payments.</p></li>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-starting-to-provide-food-but-we-need-to-think-carefully-before-we-ditch-the-lunchbox-193536">Australian schools are starting to provide food, but we need to think carefully before we 'ditch the lunchbox'</a>
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<h2>A call to properly monitor food insecurity in Australia</h2>
<p>Regular national monitoring of food insecurity will mean we have enough good information about Australians’ experiences of food insecurity. We can then use this information to take action that helps those struggling to afford basic necessities like food.</p>
<p>The consensus statement being issued this week will be used in conversations with people in positions of power to shine a light on the importance of measuring food insecurity.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/survey-tools/#household">US Household Food Security Survey Module</a> recommended in the statement is a freely available measurement tool. It takes a few minutes to complete, has been translated into several languages and is relatively easy to use. Importantly, it can measure food insecurity in households with both adults and children.</p>
<p>We know food insecurity is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-022-01347-4">a growing problem</a> in Australia. What we need now is for all levels of government to commit to regularly monitoring food insecurity. Only then can targeted responses be developed. </p>
<p>No one in Australia should go hungry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine is a member of the Nutrition Society of Australia and is affiliated with the Australian Right to Food Coalition.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona McKay is affiliated with the Public Health Association of Australia (Victoria Branch)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miriam Williams is affiliated with the Australian Right to Food Coalition.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Godrichis affiliated with Edith Cowan University's Centre for People, Place and Planet. Stephanie receives funding from Healthway and the Western Australian Future Health Research and Innovation Fund, which is an initiative of the WA State Government. Stephanie was previously a national co-convenor for the Right to Food Coalition.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue is a member of Dietitians Australia and is affiliated with and convenes S.H.A.R.E (Solutions supporting Household Food Security in Australia through Research and Evidence) Collaboration.</span></em></p>A country of plenty like Australia should be able to ensure no one is denied their right to adequate food. But food insecurity is on the rise, and we aren’t even properly monitoring the problem.Katherine Kent, Lecturer in Public Health, Western Sydney UniversityFiona McKay, Associate Professor of Health Equity, Deakin UniversityMiriam Williams, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie UniversityStephanie Godrich, Senior Lecturer in Public Health (Nutrition), Edith Cowan UniversitySue Kleve, Senior Lecturer, Nutrition Dietetics & Food, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1877342022-08-11T15:24:31Z2022-08-11T15:24:31ZThe right to food: activism and litigation are shifting the dial in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476665/original/file-20220729-19-k0tzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A recent court case forced the Department of Basic Education to resume the National School Nutrition Programme for nine million learners around the country.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even before the pandemic and the recent global rise in food prices, millions of South Africans were hungry. In 2019, nearly <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182019.pdf#page=68">18% of households</a> could not access enough nutritious food for a healthy and productive life. Child stunting remains stubbornly high, affecting <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=33">27% of children</a> under five (double the global average). And <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=211">10% of children</a> are either wasted (thin for their height) or underweight.</p>
<p>At the same time, overweight and obesity rates are increasing, affecting <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR337/FR337.pdf#page=331">68% of women</a> and 31% of men. They are behind a rise in health problems such as heart disease and <a href="https://diabetesatlas.org/en/">diabetes</a>. In South Africa, diabetes affects <a href="https://diabetesatlas.org/en/">approximately 4.5 million</a> people and is the leading <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P03093/P030932017.pdf#page=44">cause of death</a> among women. </p>
<p>Obesity and stunting are linked, and often found in the same households as both result from not being able to access the right kinds of (nutritious) food.</p>
<p>The protracted nature of the pandemic and its ongoing social and economic impact have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0376835X.2022.2062299">increased</a> these persistently high levels of food insecurity. This has been driven by <a href="https://theconversation.com/rising-food-prices-hit-poor-people-the-hardest-a-close-look-at-inflation-in-south-africa-184465">rising food prices</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, in South Africa, everyone should be able to access their basic needs, like food, in a <a href="https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/brochure_A3_English.pdf">dignified manner</a> (without shame and unreasonable obstacles). The right to food is enshrined in South Africa’s constitution. Section 27(1)(b) states that “everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food and water”. Section 28 recognises the right to food for children. </p>
<p>South Africa has also ratified many international and regional human rights agreements on the right to food. The right to food is a <a href="https://www.gov.za/south-african-human-rights-commission-launch-right-food-campaign">human right</a> recognised under national and international law, which protects the right of people to access food and feed themselves, either by producing their food or by purchasing it.</p>
<p>This right has been successfully litigated in countries like India. Until recently no case directly related to the right had been brought to the Constitutional Court of South Africa.</p>
<p>This changed in mid-2020 when the NGO Equal Education and the public interest group Section27, together with two Limpopo school governing bodies, <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-07-17-court-order-the-department-of-basic-education-to-urgently-feed-9-million-hungry-children/">won</a> their case, forcing the Department of Basic Education to resume the National School Nutrition Programme for nine million learners around the country.</p>
<p>The case is significant as it means that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-still-has-a-long-way-to-go-on-the-right-to-food-125423">question of hunger</a> is now on the list of socioeconomic rights recognised under the law in South Africa. Other rights have been litigated, creating a body of jurisprudence for the court to act on. </p>
<h2>Important principles</h2>
<p>According to Baone Twala from Section27, speaking at an online <a href="http://foodimbizo.org/">Food Imbizo</a>, a number of principles were set out in the landmark court case, which helps flesh out what the constitutional right to food means in practice in South Africa.</p>
<p>First, the case confirms that the right to basic nutrition for children is unqualified. The progressive realisation of the right depending on the government’s available resources – which usually applies to other social economic rights in the constitution and the right to food for adults – does not apply here. The government has an obligation to ensure the immediate fulfilment of those rights, as opposed to housing, for example, where it depends on what government can do.</p>
<p>Second, the implication of this right is that the state must provide it in circumstances where parents and caregivers are unable to. An example would be when they can’t afford to.</p>
<p>Third, the National School Nutrition Programme is a component of the right to basic education in the sense that it enables the child to be able to fulfil their right to education; eating gives the child the mental ability to focus.</p>
<p>Fourth, the right to basic nutrition for children is self-standing and independent of the right to education. This means that the right to food exists whether or not a child is in school, and the state has a duty to fulfil that right, regardless of where the child is.</p>
<p>Finally, removing a pre-existing right (like cancelling the school nutrition programme) is a retrogressive measure, and can only be implemented under very specific circumstances. When it comes to children, this should be the very last measure that is taken.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>The first direct Constitutional Court ruling on the right to food was used in 2020 to force the Department of Basic Education to restart the school nutrition programme. The challenge now is how to ensure these principles are reflected across a broader set of policies. </p>
<p>It might be tempting to immediately focus on finding other strategic litigation cases on the right to food to build up a body of jurisprudence. But court cases can be difficult and time-consuming to build. Sometimes the outcomes are very specific, and they can even go against the intended outcome.</p>
<p>Twala argues that there is now an opportunity through advocacy and civil society mobilisation to make sure that the principles are used to counteract policy and programme decisions that contravene them. For example, the principle on removing the pre-existing right could be applied to other feeding programmes for children or vulnerable members of society, significantly curtailing the ability of government to stop these.</p>
<p>Taking up these principles (and especially the second principle) through advocacy and mobilisation also aligns well with a growing consensus that <a href="http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/cg-2020-food-and-nutrition-security">children (and mothers)</a> should be the focus of right to food campaigns. This ties in well with existing high-profile campaigns, such as the ones coordinated by Black Sash for the full retention of the Social Relief of Distress grant introduced during the pandemic, and to <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-25-black-sash-report-highlights-need-for-child-support-grant-to-be-increased-to-combat-hunger-and-destitution/">increase the Child Support Grant</a> and extend this to <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-child-support-grant-should-start-in-pregnancy-heres-why-70106">pregnant women</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camilla Adelle receives funding from the DSI-NRF Centre in Excellence in Food Security. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Florian Kroll receives funding from the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security. </span></em></p>Removing a pre-existing right like cancelling the school nutrition programme is a retrogressive measure, and should only be done under very specific circumstances.Camilla Adelle, Research Fellow, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaFlorian Kroll, PhD candidate with the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1252552020-07-09T15:13:19Z2020-07-09T15:13:19ZTesting strategies to help Kenya’s urban poor get access to food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297080/original/file-20191015-98678-1xcp64c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Oleg Znamenskiy/shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Kenya’s urban areas, there’s a serious problem of people not having enough food, particularly in the capital city of Nairobi. </p>
<p>Those who live in low-income settlements earn very low wages – for instance around <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083428">67%</a> of the urban poor are informal workers who earn about US$130 each month. As a result residents spend over <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083428">half of their daily income</a> buying food, because basic food items such as maize flour are expensive. This is due to a combination of <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/04/24/commodity-prices-to-rise-more-than-expected-in-2018-world-bank">soaring global commodity prices</a>, poor harvests and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329117720_Post-Harvest_Losses_a_Key_Contributor_to_Food_Insecurity_in_Kenya">post-harvest food losses</a> which have led to a sharp rise in the cost of food since 2007. </p>
<p>To make ends meet, families are forced to take <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0083428.g001">fewer meals</a> and data shows that over <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129943">80%</a> of households in low-income settlements don’t have access to enough nutritious food. </p>
<p>This situation has serious consequences, particularly for children. Research by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26098561">shows that</a> about half of children under five years of age living in Nairobi’s low-income settlements are chronically undernourished (stunted) and about a third of women of reproductive age are underweight. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-wanted-to-know-how-coronavirus-affects-nairobis-slum-residents-what-we-found-137621">further complicates</a> the situation. At least <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/kenya-over-one-million-rendered-jobless-as-covid-19-takes-a-toll-on-businesses">one million</a> Kenyans have lost their jobs and there’s been a disruption to food supply from rural areas because of containment measures. </p>
<p>In theory, governments are duty bound to ensure that their people have food. The realisation of the right to food <a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/righttofood/documents/RTF_publications/EN/General_Comment_12_EN.pdf">is when</a> every person lives in conditions that allow them to produce food or to purchase it. In Kenya, this is <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kl/index.php?id=398">enshrined</a> in the constitution.</p>
<p>The government can fulfil this right by putting accountability at the heart of food security policies. For instance, by publicly declaring that it recognises its responsibility – as Brazil did with its <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3023e.pdf">zero hunger programme</a> – and establishing standards and procedures for the implementation of food security policies and programmes. In addition, the government can also monitor food production levels and prices while keeping track of how food insecure people are. Indonesia is one country that has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK219785/">this strategy</a> in place. </p>
<p>In Kenya, there is still a long way to go to ensure that this right is enjoyed by all. For instance, there are currently no measures in place to fully regulate the price of basic needs, especially food. A key way to hold the government accountable is to ensure communities know that they have a right to food. This empowers them to demand the right and urges those responsible to put strategies in place that realise the right. </p>
<h2>Right to food initiative</h2>
<p>For the past two years, my colleagues and I have been working on the right to food issue through the <a href="https://aphrc.org/project/the-right-to-food-a-welcome-trust-international-engagement-fellowship/">Right To Food Project</a>. This works with communities in low-income settlements in Kenya to understand their experiences and engage them on their rights. We also organise dialogue with policymakers.</p>
<p>The aim is to influence policy decisions towards the realisation of the right to food. We do this by identifying and documenting the realities of the urban poor and their experiences with regard to food insecurity. We then present recommendations to relevant change agents, such as policymakers. This amplifies the voice of communities and ensures that their experiences and insights are part of this process.</p>
<p>So far, our initiative has revealed that barriers to food access occur mainly due to poverty. People earn too little to buy enough food. They also rely heavily on purchased food, as they can’t grow their own. The food that they can buy is often of poor quality, not very nutritious and produced in an environment with low food safety standards. </p>
<p>Some urban poor resort to risky strategies, such as scavenging for food from dump sites or engaging in crime, to get food.</p>
<h2>Engagement on the Right to Food</h2>
<p>Our initial focus was on Nairobi. We worked with eight community groups to engage communities in ten informal settlements. Moving forward, we will include the County of Kisumu, a project that will end in 2022. Within these communities the aims were to engage them on their right to food, their role and the obligations of the government in the realisation of the right. </p>
<p>This government’s obligation is not to take measures that arbitrarily deprive people of their right to food. For instance, one finding from our project is that the government needs to address the issue of taxation especially of food staples in order to lower food prices for the urban poor.</p>
<p>It was also important that – although highlighting the role the government should play in providing food – communities suggest strategies that would work for them. For instance, the communities said that they wanted be enabled to grow their own food.</p>
<p>This is where the dialogues convened by the project were useful. For instance, though people may want to grow food, it’s not always possible. We set up dialogue between political leaders, which included local chiefs, representatives of members of parliament, representatives from the Nairobi County Women Representative office, and officers from the Ministry of Agriculture. The community could voice the challenges they face when it comes to urban farming: a lack of agricultural skills, farming land, and money to buy inputs such as seeds. </p>
<p>Following this dialogue, the Ministry of Agriculture agreed to ensure agricultural extension officers reach urban poor settings to support urban farmers and improve the implementation of the 2015 Nairobi Urban Agriculture Promotion and Regulation Act, which pledges to improve people’s capacity in food production. </p>
<p>This commitment to improve policy is crucial, but so is ensuring that these new laws and policies are enforced. To this end the project is undertaking an audit and review of existing policies – such as the <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/bills/2017/FoodSecurityBill_2017.pdf">2017 Food Security Bill</a> – and legislation in Kenya in order to identify the extent to which food security concerns of the urban poor have been addressed, and engage for change. </p>
<p>As seen through this case, through public engagement this project can help to enhance the communities’ understanding of the concept of their right to food and provide opportunities to explore potential strategies that will work for them.</p>
<p><em>Hilda Owii, David Osogo, Florence Sipalla and Michelle Mbuthia from APHRC contributed to the writing of this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Kimani-Murage receives funding from Wellcome Trust, UK. She is affiliated with African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Osogo, Hilda Owii, Michelle Mbuthia, and <a href="mailto:fsipalla@aphrc.org">fsipalla@aphrc.org</a> do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kenya’s urban poor lack enough food and the little they can afford is often unsafe and of poor nutritional value.Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, Senior Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1254232019-10-25T09:13:02Z2019-10-25T09:13:02ZSouth Africa still has a long way to go on the right to food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297894/original/file-20191021-56198-4x0apz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For most of human history, people had access to food either by producing it themselves, or through trade</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fifty-four percent of South Africans are hungry or at risk of <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/uploads/pageNews/72/SANHANES-launch%20edition%20(online%20version).pdf">hunger</a>. Hunger affects people’s health, as well as their ability to live full and productive lives. That’s why hunger represents a violation of their basic human rights – not only the right to food, but also the rights to dignity, health and education, since all of these are affected by hunger. </p>
<p>Hunger, malnutrition and related illnesses are not evenly spread. There are significant race, class and gender differences. For example, black South Africans are 22 times more likely to be <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/uploads/pageNews/72/SANHANES-launch%20edition%20(online%20version).pdf">food insecure</a> compared with white South Africans. Food insecurity is defined as not having physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. </p>
<p>This unequal distribution indicates a situation of severe food injustice in South Africa. Yet from my research with <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16310">urban farmers</a> it’s clear that people do not know of the right to food, and don’t see unequal access to nutritious food as an injustice. As a result, questions of hunger are largely absent in South African politics. While there are frequent protests around access to jobs, education, housing, water and electricity, we rarely, if ever, see protests about access to food. </p>
<p>There are international examples of governments taking their obligations seriously with regard to the right to food. In the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for example, the government has rolled out numerous <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-should-learn-from-brazil-about-how-to-tackle-hidden-hunger-118613">food and nutrition security programmes</a> to combat hunger. In India, activists used <a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CoE-FS-WP3-Accountability-and-the-right-to-food.pdf">litigation</a> to hold the government accountable, leading to the enactment of the National Food Security Act in 2013, and various anti-hunger programmes such as school meals, subsidised grain distribution and assistance to pregnant women.</p>
<p>South Africans could learn from these examples, and do more.</p>
<h2>Food injustice</h2>
<p>The concept of <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cultivating-food-justice">food injustice</a> seeks to address issues of equity, fairness and control amid inherent inequality of the food system. Developed by researchers and activists in the US, it is equally relevant in South Africa, where centuries of oppression under settler colonialism and apartheid have created one of the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southafrica/overview">most unequal</a> societies in the world.</p>
<p>One of the drivers of unequal access to food is the way in which the industrial food system works. For example, <a href="http://repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10566/4597/rsr_1_corporate_concentration_food_security_sout_africa_2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">a few large companies</a> dominate each aspect of the food value chain.</p>
<p>This concentration means that smaller scale producers, processors and retailers are squeezed out. Because the large companies dominate the supply chain, they are able to maximise profits at the expense of small-scale producers, to whom they pay very low prices, and low-income consumers, who can’t afford the marked-up prices in shops. </p>
<p>The system has been normalised to the extent that it is rarely challenged. </p>
<p>In my <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16310">study</a> with urban farmers I asked participants about the right to food. The majority had never heard of it. Even when I explained the right, it was difficult for them to comprehend how it could work in the context of the current food system. </p>
<p>One woman in Bertrams, Johannesburg, <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10413/16310/Kesselman_Brittany_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">challenged the concept</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A right to eat, but where will we get the food to eat? You’ll go to Spar [supermarket] and say, “I want to eat”, yet you don’t have money to buy food. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>When asked if food manufacturers and retailers should help hungry people, another participant in Alexandra, <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10413/16310/Kesselman_Brittany_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yeah, I think they must help, but if they’ve got money. Because also they must get something and then they can manage to help people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This view was expressed by a pensioner struggling to feed her grandchildren. On the other end of the scale might be the CEO of major retailer Shoprite, who earned R100 million (and additional incentives) in 2017 – 1332 times more than employees, who made R75,150. </p>
<p>The idea of food being sold for profit has become entirely normalised. This is despite the fact that for most of human history, people had access to food either by producing (or gathering) it themselves, or through trade. Some of the older participants in the study actually experienced this during their childhoods in rural areas. Their households were largely self-sustaining – growing crops, raising livestock, and sharing or trading with neighbours as needed. </p>
<p>Many of the research participants had monthly household food budgets of around R450 per person per month. At this rate, a healthy diet is simply unaffordable. The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity <a href="http://pmbejd.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/September-2019-Household-Affordability-Index-PMBEJD.pdf">Household Affordability Index</a> suggests that the cost of a basic nutritious food basket for a family of four is R2,327.17 (or R581.79 per person).</p>
<h2>Realising the right to food</h2>
<p>Tackling food injustice requires a transformation of the structural inequities of the food system. It needs to ensure that marginalised producers, processors and retailers have an opportunity to earn a decent living. At the same time <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/121249/bread-price-fixing-scandal-claims-in-sa/">corporate dominance needs to be addressed</a>.</p>
<p>To break the cycle of poverty and malnutrition, the government also needs to ensure that children have access to sufficient, healthy food. This might entail food provision linked to pre- and post-natal care, as well as provision of healthy meals at <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201610/national-integrated-ecd-policy-web-version-final-01-08-2016a.pdf">early childhood development centres</a>. </p>
<p>It requires providing alternative means to access healthy food. This could be through access to land and water, or through subsidised fresh produce and healthy meals. Programmes such as those in <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-should-learn-from-brazil-about-how-to-tackle-hidden-hunger-118613">Brazil</a> or in India provide examples of how government interventions (through subsidies and distribution) can improve access to food.<br>
At the most basic level, it requires that South Africans know they have a right to food in the first place.</p>
<p>Eight years ago the then UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter <a href="http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/20120306_southafrica_en.pdf">criticised South Africa’s progress</a> on this score and made a number of recommendations for improvement. Sadly, little has changed. It’s time South Africans demanded government action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brittany Kesselman received research funding from the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies.</span></em></p>Hunger affects people’s health. It also affects their dignity and their ability to live full and productive lives.Brittany Kesselman, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.