Rising food prices and household food security

Abstract

For many South Africans a healthy, balanced diet is elusive. Food security in both urban and rural South Africa is heavily dependent on cash incomes for household purchase of food for consumption,¹ which, in a context of high unemployment, is largely reliant on social grants.² This safety net does not reach all those eligible for such grants including those defined as “seriously hungry”.³ Rising food prices can exacerbate poverty, inequality and food insecurity when the poor are net food consumers (consume more than they produce),⁴ which is the case for the majority of South Africans.