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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 Security

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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

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Hunger, a crisis !!!

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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

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Can science and good governance deliver dinner?

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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.

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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?

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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

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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

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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).

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NRF/DST Centre of Excellence in Food Security

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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27 Source: Prof. Hettie Schnfeldt

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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

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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

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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)

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Special Issue on Food and Nutrition Security