The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security Vision Prof Voster Muchenje Co-Host: DST/NRF...
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The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security Vision Prof Voster Muchenje Co-Host: DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Meat Science Associate: DST/NRF CoE in Food
The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security Vision Prof
Voster Muchenje Co-Host: DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Meat Science
Associate: DST/NRF CoE in Food Security
Slide 2
Introduction Population growth exceeding 7,7 bn and 48% rural-
based by 2020 (World Bank, 2012) Goal to ensure food security
Imbalances in food production Food production < Food Consumption
Poverty Hunger, < 2500 kcal/day Some people are surviving on
< US$/day!!! Malnutrition Sub-standard produce
Slide 3
Hunger, a crisis !!!
Slide 4
Some Themes Role of Technology and research in improving food
security of smallholders and emerging farmers (This conference)
2014 African Union year theme: Agriculture and Food Security
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) Fourth Annual Young
Scientists Conference from 14-16 October 2014 - Securing our
livelihoods post-2015 SASAS: The role of scientists in securing
food for the future Government policies (Presidential Outcomes,
& Budget and Policy Speeches, NRF Proposals) The DST/NRF Centre
of Excellence in Food
Slide 5
Can science and good governance deliver dinner?
Slide 6
Essay on Population Taking into account land, food, water and
energy constraints, the best we might expect the world to sustain
is around 8 billion people By around 2050, the population is
expected to peak are around 9 billion In the next 40 years we need
to produce more food that we have produced over the last 8000
years
Slide 7
Further challenges Greater climatic variability Increased
demand for animal protein Increased costs of energy Decrease in the
availability of water 2005 Annual water balance in SA catchments.
Source: DWAF Water Situation Assessment Model
Slide 8
How will we feed ourselves in the future? Put fewer forks on
the table Bake a bigger cake Teach everyone better table manners
(Joel Cohen, 1995) Bake a better cake Waste less We will only
succeed if good science is supported by good governance And we will
only succeed in doing that by linking science, social science and
the humanities
Slide 9
Some concepts Food is any substance, whether processed,
semi-processed or raw, which is intended for human consumption, and
includes drink, chewing gum and any substance which has been used
in the manufacture, preparation or treatment of food (Codex
Alimentarius, 1963) eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the
annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and
birth (Wendell Berry, 1992) a highly condensed social fact (Arjan
Appadurai, 1981) Food choices are the result of a complex
negotiation among three competing considerations: the consumers
identity (social and personal) matters of convenience (price,
skill, availability) a sense of responsibility (an awareness of the
consequences of what we eat) (Warren Belasco, 2008)
Slide 10
Food security is not
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19640621&id=wf1VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=--IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5021,4542202
Eugene Register Guard, June 21, 1964
Slide 11
Food security is Food and nutrition security exists when all
people at all times have physical, social and economic access to
food, which is consumed in sufficient quantity and quality to meet
their dietary needs and food preferences, and is supported by an
environment of adequate sanitation, health services and care,
allowing for a living healthy and active life. (Committee on World
Food Security, 1996, 2012) Food security is more than just about
the provision of food: it is about the quality, the
bioavailability, the supply and preservation of adequate nutrients.
It can be chronic, temporal, temporary or cyclical.
Slide 12
1000 Days Brain scan two 3-year old children Normal
Malnourished (Fernando Monckeberg Barros, 2007) The child is
reported to have suffered from extreme neglect (abandono cronico)
and the degree to which other factors such as social stimulation
may have impacted this child are unknown. Why does food security
matter?
Slide 13
Do we have a problem in South Africa? South Africas GNI
p/capita means that it one of the 50 wealthiest nations and among
the 35 largest economies in the world Stats SA, 2013, 2014 May and
Timaeus, 2013
Slide 14
Slide 15
The consequences In January 2013, rural consumers paid R 5.95
more than urban consumers for the same food basket, poor households
spent 33.5% of their income on food, compared to 10.8% of non-poor
households Two National Food Consumption Surveys (1999 and 2005)
and the 2012 SANHANES study confirm a double burden of nutrition
whereby children from the most food insecure households are most at
risk of undernutrition whilst adult women in the same households
are often most at risk of obesity
Slide 16
The double burden in South Africa Diabetes prevalence NFCS,
1999; NFCS, 2005; SANHANES, 2012 Peer, N., Steyn, K., Lombard, C.,
Lambert, E. V., Vythilingum, B., & Levitt, N. S. (2012).
Slide 17
NRF/DST Centre of Excellence in Food Security
Slide 18
Our contention is: Food and nutritional security is imperative
for human survival with dignity and takes account of economic
vitality, social justice, human health and environmental health In
the South African context, this is shaped not simply by
agricultural productivity per se but also by the terms under which
producers, processors, distributors and consumers are incorporated
into the food system as a whole We will consider what changing food
systems mean for South African consumer food environments, their
socio-economic outcomes, and the impacts on nutrition- related
disease in a rapidly urbanizing population
Slide 19
Activities of the Centre Food Creation Production, processing
& preservation Food Distribution Markets, livelihoods &
value chains Food Consumption Health, nutrition, choice &
behaviour Food Governance Safety, standards, policy &
rights
Slide 20
Creation At the University of Pretoria, Prof. John Taylor and
his research students have developed a highly nutritious sorghum
biscuit which is gluten-free Two biscuits a day can supply up to
20% of a young school age childs energy requirement When the
biscuits are made with a blend of sorghum and local legumes such as
cowpea, they can meet a substantial proportion of a childs high
quality protein requirement The biscuits can be the basis of a
viable enterprise for small-scale food processors U Pretoria
students and U Limpopo staff at the Ukulima Farm training centre in
Limpopo teaching people from a local NGO how to produce the
biscuits
Slide 21
Creation Prof. Voster Muchenje and his colleagues at the
University of Fort Hare use a farm to fork approach to meat
science'. One area of their research investigates abattoirs In work
published during 2013, they report on abattoir conditions, pre-
slaughter stress and maternal slaughter. Concerned not only with
inefficiencies resulting from poor practices, their findings
identify ways of simultaneously reducing unnecessary cruelty and
wastage
Slide 22
Creation Research by Prof. Kennedy Dzama and his colleagues at
the University of Stellenbosch shows that indigenous livestock
genetic resources such as Nguni cattle need to be exploited to
produce products and services Furthermore there are opportunities
to commercialise production of these resources which are in
abundance in the small scale farming sector This research shows
that rangelands which make up make up more than 60% of SA land
surface can be managed holistically by optimally grazing
appropriate livestock resources
Slide 23
Distribution Dr Jane Battersby of AFSUN Cape Town, based at the
African Centre for Cities at UCT, has recently mapped supermarket
expansion in Cape Town Work in progress highlights a rapid, but
uneven transition of the urban food system This changing food
system has implications for value chains, food-based livelihoods,
consumer food choice and the diet-related health
Slide 24
Distribution Research by Prof. Andries du Toit and colleagues
at UWCs PLAAS suggests that the design of South Africas agro-food
system has ambiguous implications for food security After 1994,
South African growth has inter alia depended on a cheap food
strategy: encouraging concentration and cost efficiency in
agriculture, and on a rapidly modernising supermarket food retail
system to deliver cheap food to the urban poor thereby increasing
real wages But agricultural concentration has been disastrous for
jobs, and the centralized supply lines and bargaining power of
supermarkets is inimical to smallholder farming (Du Toit &
Neves 2014) Our strategy has thus created a food system in which
there are negative trade-offs between the production of cheap food
on the one hand, and the creation of livelihoods and the successful
pursuit of land reform on the other Other research (Hall 2013)
suggests that supermarket expansion into the regions and large
scale land deals elsewhere in Africa lead to the replication of
these value chain arrangements in other parts of the continent with
potentially negative consequences for smallholder farming
Slide 25
Consumption Research by UWCs Prof. David Sanders and colleagues
has documented the rapidly changing food environment. At UCT, Dr.
Jane Battersby has revealed the dynamics of the food retail sector
in influencing food choices. Research by UWCs Prof. David Sanders
and colleagues has documented the rapidly changing food
environment. At UCT, Dr. Jane Battersby has revealed the dynamics
of the food retail sector in influencing food choices. At NWU, Lara
Sweet pointed towards important complementary food labelling
practices that could influence child growth and development. At
NWU, Lara Sweet pointed towards important complementary food
labelling practices that could influence child growth and
development. PURE, a 15 year multi-country cohort study underway in
urban and rural sites with researchers at UWC (Prof. Thandi Puoane)
and NWU (Prof. Johann Jerling), will allow detailed examination of
socio-economic, cultural and behavioural factors influencing diets,
and provide evidence for policy. The involvement of Community
Health Workers in these sites will enable the testing of
interventions that may inform nutrition promotion within two new
health policies (NHI and Re- Engineering Primary Health Care) PURE,
a 15 year multi-country cohort study underway in urban and rural
sites with researchers at UWC (Prof. Thandi Puoane) and NWU (Prof.
Johann Jerling), will allow detailed examination of socio-economic,
cultural and behavioural factors influencing diets, and provide
evidence for policy. The involvement of Community Health Workers in
these sites will enable the testing of interventions that may
inform nutrition promotion within two new health policies (NHI and
Re- Engineering Primary Health Care) Schools are settings for
health and nutrition promotion activity and sites of state
provision of food through the extensive and expensive National
School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). Re-design of NSNP and current
implementation of a new School Health Policy will be informed by
new research that builds on work by Prof Vicki Lambert at UCT and
Marita Kruger at NWU Schools are settings for health and nutrition
promotion activity and sites of state provision of food through the
extensive and expensive National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP).
Re-design of NSNP and current implementation of a new School Health
Policy will be informed by new research that builds on work by Prof
Vicki Lambert at UCT and Marita Kruger at NWU
Slide 26
26 Consumption ScenarioCooked Portion size (g) Estimated
portion costs (R) Share of daily income (%) Energy contributio n
(kJ) Typical base line 5320.7014.02420.6 29 % inflation June 06 to
June 07 3820.6112.21736.8 5.4% inflation June 07 to June 08
3610.6011.91643.0 3.2% Projection June 08 to June 09
3500.6011.91590.4 26 (Cooked maize meal porridge assume income
stays the same) Typical portion: Provides only 37.8% of energy,
25.7% of protein and 20.1% of vit A needs After 2 years: Provides
only 25.7% of energy, 17.4% of protein and 17.4% of vit A needs At
the University of Pretoria, Prof. Johann Kirsten and colleagues
have investigated the effects of inflation for poor families
Slide 27
27 Source: Prof. Hettie Schnfeldt
Slide 28
Governance A transdisciplinary team from the University of
Pretoria (Agricultural Economics, Human Nutrition, Consumer
Science, Crop and Soil Science, Family Medicine, Information
Technology) have developed a food security and nutrition
information system using digital technology Work on indicators has
been completed and the digital dashboard is under construction to
assist government departments identify people in need of support
The tool will provide up-to-date numbers of food insecure people
once linked to on-going surveys at local, provincial and national
level Already the tool provides Health Post Managers in Tshwane
Municipality with monthly leads for Community Health Workers to
follow up
Slide 29
Governance Although the right to food is explicitly recognised
under the Constitution, Dr. Ebenezer Durojaye of UWCs Community Law
Centre argues that the non-existence of a specific legislation on
food is a barrier to the realisation of this right The absence of a
coordinating department for food in the country is also a barrier
to the realisation of the right to food There is need for a
stronger accountability mechanism in relation to the right to food
in the country. Chapter 9 institutions should be more proactive in
monitoring government's obligations in this regard There is a need
for civil society groups to embark on effective campaign and
sustained mobilisation on the right to food
Slide 30
Who has the duty to deliver dinner? Whoever could make two ears
of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground
where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do
more essential service to his country, than the whole race of
politicians put together. Jonathan Swift (16671745) At what point
food security stops being an issue of food and becomes an issue of
society (Mark Gibson 2012: 314) The first cause of hunger and
malnutrition is poverty (United Nations, 1945)