North West Food Security Workshop in Full Swing

Background
UN Sustainable Development Goal 2: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. This seeks sustainable solutions to end hunger in all its forms by 2030 and to achieve food security. The aim is to ensure that everyone everywhere has enough good-quality food to lead a healthy life. Achieving this Goal will require better access to food and the widespread promotion of sustainable agriculture. This entails improving the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers by promoting equal access to land, technology and markets, sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices. It also requires increased investments through international cooperation to bolster the productive capacity of agriculture in developing countries”.

Deliberation
South Africa is being food secure at national level, however almost 20% of South African households have inadequate or severe inadequate access to food. According to StatsSA in 2017, the North West Province ranked second highest with regards to households reported with inadequate access to food. The province is one of only three provinces with severe inadequate access to food found to be estimated at twice the national average. An estimated 15.1% of children aged 5 years or younger in North West Province experience hunger. The province is working towards reducing these numbers and ensuring sustainable food security within the province. Thus, the aim of the workshop is to develop strategies to reduce food insecurity in the province with action towards ensuring sustainable food and nutrition security. The department aims to have multidisciplinary discussions with stakeholders and role-players encompassed in food security to have an action plan developed during this workshop.