The conundrum of rising agricultural output and worsening food security in South Africa

South Africa contains a contradiction: it is the leading agricultural exporter in Africa, even as the number of households in the country that are food insecure grows. Without proper policy engagement on this challenge, the sector faces the risk of more misconceptions about its export-driven growth drive while many South Africans are impoverished.

An accurate diagnosis of the problem and its underlying causes is critical to formulating a suitable policy response.

In February 2025, Stats SA released the Food Security Report for 2019, 2022 and 2023 (the pandemic affected the ability to collect data in 2020 and 2021). The report used data from the General Household Survey for those years.

The report’s most striking observation was that “the proportion of households in South Africa that experienced moderate to severe food insecurity was estimated at 15.8% in 2019, 16.2% in 2022 and 19.7% in 2023. Over this period, the proportion of households that experienced severe food insecurity was estimated to be 6.4%, 7.5% and 8%, respectively.”

The deterioration of food security is not the result of prices or the lack of supply of nutritious, high-quality food. Access seems to be the fundamental challenge, especially for households with no regular sources of income.

Therefore, addressing income poverty at the household level must be at the centre of any strategy to deal with food insecurity. Clearly, this is not a challenge that can be resolved by the agricultural sector alone but through co-ordinated efforts to grow the South African economy, lift employment across various sectors and provide appropriate support to vulnerable households.

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Richard Humphries, Sam Mkokeli, Nelisiwe Tshabalala and Amanda Murimba produce this podcast.