Food insecurity warning for South Africa

The number of people unable to meet their minimum food consumption needs in South Africa is expected to marginally decline to just under one in two by 2025, according to the World Data Lab.

The firm, which conducted research for Shoprite Holdings Ltd.’s food index, estimates that 49% of South Africans will be food insecure in two years’ time, down from 52% at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The Western Cape, Free State and Eastern Cape provinces are expected to show the biggest progress in addressing hunger.

While “the modelling shows an improvement by 2025, the reality is that in two years’ time, just under half the population will still be struggling with hunger,” said Sanjeev Raghubir, Shoprite’s sustainability and corporate social investment head.

“That’s why we must urgently escalate the rate of people escaping food insecurity. Doing so will improve not only their prospects but that of the country.”

Africa’s largest grocer commissioned the research to draw attention to food insecurity and get South Africans involved in rolling back hunger and poverty, it said in a statement on Monday.

South Africa is the most unequal country in the world for which data is available, according to the Thomas Piketty-backed World Inequality Lab.

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