Why SA’s food security policies have not lived up to their promise
South Africa can rightly boast of a rich array of policies designed to tackle the country’s high levels of food insecurity, but for all their virtues these policies have not been able to stop millions in the country from going hungry.
Organic & Natural Food Systems – Imperative for Climate Change
For the past six years Prof Auerbach has been doing long-term comparative organic farming systems trials with his agroecology master’s research group at the University’s George Campus, and the NRF-funded African Organic Farming Systems Research project with doctoral students in several African countries.
Does African agriculture need a Green Revolution?
Agricultural sectors across Africa need their own green revolution building on local knowledge and culture, as well as a green disruption building on new digital and other technology.
“When you take pills you must eat”- Study explores food, HIV and ART adherence among older people living with HIV
Older people living with HIV are the focus of a study that explores how food insecurity affects their adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART) and their access to health care.
Funded by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE), the overall objective of the research project was to explore the role of food security on ART adherence, and the quality of life among people living with HIV older than 50 years. More specifically, the study looked at older people living in Langa and Khayelitsha, two urban communities situated on the outskirts of Cape Town.
Participatory Visual Methods can contribute to Food Security research
One of the benefits of this form of research is that the research participants can have a sense of ownership and input into the research
“Participatory Visual Research Methods (PVMs) can help researchers gain deeper and more grounded perspective of the experiences of people who are affected by the topic of their research.”
So said Gill Black from the Sustainable Livelihood Foundation (SLF), during a PVM workshop hosted by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE) on 13 November 2018, in partnership with Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn).
The workshop was aimed at facilitating a conversation about the potential for PVMs to be used in research about food insecurity and related issues. “Our hope is that food security researchers will gain a broad understanding of PVMs in order to then consider if these methods might be useful in their own research,” said Dr Camilla Adelle, of GovInn and CoE.
One of the benefits of this form of research is that the research participants can have a sense of ownership and input into the research, as they can be involved from conceptualization to data analysis.
SONA and budget suggests that food security desperately low on the national agenda