Thesis (MScAgric (Agricultural Economics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Regional food security is considered one of the major challenges for the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) countries. SADC is one of the regions in the world currently
facing widespread transitory and chronic food insecurity (malnutrition), as well as persistent threats
of acute food insecurity (famine). The objective of this thesis, therefore, was to investigate and
assess the prevailing causes of food insecurity in Southern Africa.
The research revealed that transitory and chronic food insecurity (malnutrition) in the SADC region
exists due to the problems experienced with both the supply and demand sides of the food security
equation. However, though SADC has made limited attempts to tackle the problem of food
insecurity in the region, the Community did not appear to learn from the 1991/92 food insecurity
crisis when it recurred in 2001/02. This study consequently recommends that further investigations
take place into the primary data available in an attempt to address various issues relating to the
causes of food insecurity in Southern Africa in order to ensure long-term food security. Such issues
include the following: mobilising agriculture to increase food production rapidly enough to meet the
needs of the growing population of the region; bridging the prevailing gap between the public
actors, on the one side, and the private and informal actors, on the other, in order to deliver effective
food security services to the needy in the region; the designing of well-targeted food pricing
policies as an interim compromise between the social concerns relating to high and volatile food
prices and long-term economic growth and food security in the region; and the identification of the
role of women as food producers and agents of food security in the region.
On the supply side, the main food availability problems in the region lie on the agricultural level.
Low productivity and frequent disasters have been of a cyclic nature in SADC, leading to additional
difficulties with supplies. Such difficulties have been compounded by the inadequate political
support of the sector; a lack of investment therein; the instability of the world market; and an
increasingly unfair trade environment. Other major dimensions of the problem include: the
imposition of trade barriers, such as tariff, non-tariff and technical barriers, particularly the complex
and confusing tariff structure imposed by the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries
against other non-SACU SADC countries; the high cost of transport, especially in landlocked
countries, which has come about as a result of the weakening of the capacity and efficiency of the transport system in the region, due to a lack of investment in, as well as the poor performance of,
the transport sector. A lack of a diversified production structure in the SADC region was cited as
the main obstacle to the successful trade integration and economic development of the region.
Looking at the demand side, the main food access problems in the region consisted of a lack of food
entitlement (poverty) due to the weak economic growth resulting from unsuccessful macroeconomic
policies; a poor balance of payments situation; highly skewed patterns of income and
wealth distribution, resulting from maladministration due to short-sighted past colonial policies;
high levels of unemployment and land tenure insecurity; the failure of governance, both as regards a
lack of accountability and opposition to democratisation; and financial mismanagement. Rapid
population growth in the region resulted in an escalation in the demand for agricultural products, in
particular foodstuffs, and the reduced availability of arable land. The widespread preponderance of
Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) infection
was complicating the task of fighting hunger and undermining any attempts to strengthen the
livelihoods of the poor by depleting the adult agricultural labour potential in Southern Africa. A
lack of financial resources and institutional capacity (in the form of policy gaps) were the main
constraints to the implementation of successful poverty and food insecurity alleviation programmes
in the region, as comprehensive government intervention aimed at maintaining food security in the
region for most Southern Africans was unfeasible in the near future.
The research was conducted using the qualitative method of literature study, which proved a useful
descriptive and analytical framework for revealing significant causes of food insecurity prevailing
both in individual, households and at national levels in the SADC region. The study focused mainly
on the availability, and the ability to acquire, food, in an attempt to see how balance could be
achieved between the supply and demand sides of the food security equation by means of relevant
investigations. Documentary data were consulted in investigating the problem, in the light of the
fact that publications, such as books, academic journals and documents, illustrate the problem most
clearly.
In the planning of policy interventions, food insecurity in Southern Africa appears open to
improvement in the long term only if the actual income of households is increased, so that they can
afford to obtain enough food. Such improvement can take place in two ways: Firstly, by giving the
people who face transitory and chronic food insecurity the opportunity to earn enough to ensure that they can maintain an adequate food supply through domestic production, by improving agricultural
yield, and hence ensuring food security, at household level, and secondly, by means of the
facilitation of trade (in the form of food imports), by eliminating tariff, non-tariff and technical
barriers, and investing in the development of the transport infrastructure in the SADC region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/1591 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Abdalla, Yousif Ismael |
| Contributors | Vink, N., University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Agricultural Economics. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1137021 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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