Climate Change: Food security in South Africa facing imminent danger

The threat to food security has made climate change a much more immediate danger in South Africa where water scarcity continues to take its toll, experts have warned.

This is in light of a new report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), showing that half the world’s children live in countries heavily impacted by climate change. This creates a litany of threats to their health and future prospects.

South Africa is ranked 72^nd among countries surveyed in terms of risk, with water scarcity, soil, and water pollution having a particular impact on children affected by poverty and poor nutrition.

According to UNICEF spokeserson Toby Frick, food security is linked to multiple factors, including directly to climate change. The increasing frequency and severity of localized and national droughts, floods and severe weather has compromised food security, threatening the level of nutrition children can access.

“The impact of climate change can disrupt agricultural production, infrastructure and damage critical infrastructure, which prevents the adequate distribution of food to regions which have been affected. All of these elements can affect access to food and drive up food prices, with a particular impact on children and communities already living in poverty,’ says Frick.

“Climate change will also further impact food security, not only through these catastrophic events, but also through slow-onset changes to precipitation and temperature, which can alter agricultural practices that communities have relied on for generations.”

Also Read: Water Department warns of low dam levels in parts of SA

Recent unrest exposed the gaps in food security

Unicef has also warned that climate change is likely to deepen the vulnerability of children in South Africa ,calling on the government to invest in making basic services more resilient to climate change.

The fragility of SA’s food security systems were also laid bare recently during the unrest in parts of KZN and Gauteng, says Frick. The unrest disrupted food supply chains and exposed the fragility of food security for the most vulnerable people, with a direct impact on the nutritional status of children.

“A recent rapid assessment undertaken in two districts of KwaZulu-Natal revealed that food security deteriorated substantially, with nearly twice as many children (64%) at high or emergency risk compared to (34%) recorded in an earlier assessment.”

Technology will save agriculture sectror

Agricultural Economist at industry group AgriBiz Wandile Sihlobo says climate change is an increasing concern for South Africa’s agricultural sector. He says the sector is seeing frequent occurrences of droughts and of floods affecting a number of areas and causing disruptions in the supply of commodities across the world.

Also Read: Tackling climate change a national priority for SA, says Ramaphosa

“In South Africa, we have now had two consecutive good seasons, but before that there was a major drought that affected large parts of our country. The solution to this will not come from one sectoral approach. Yes, in the sector, farmers have interventions they can do for example, they can move more towards conservation agriculture which conserves a bit of soil moisture and allows agriculture to thrive really well, even in somewhat drier periods, but also use other practices like fallow land which is rotating planting and leaving some other areas of the land,” he says.

Sihlobo believes technology will play a large role in creating ways of fighting the effects of climate change, such as developing seeds with shorter growing periods and more resilience to drought. This is in light of the sector observing shorter rain seasons which are growing further apart.

Lower purchasing power also playing a role in hunger

According to Professor Abiodun Ogundeji, researcher at the University of the Free State’s Department of Agricultural Economics, while the growth in hunger in South Africa can be attributed to climate change and extreme weather
events, broader economic factors are mostly at play.

“If one look at the bigger picture, the major cause of hunger is the purchasing power (which can be linked to the economy), the commercial agriculture is till able to produce despite climate change because they have the resources to adapt,” he says.

Three provinces – the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and the Western Cape – are experiencing severe drought conditions in some parts, despite the relatively good rainfall experienced nationally this year. Government declared a state of disaster regarding this crisis in July, allowing for affected farmers to apply for financial assistance.

In April this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his weekly open letter, tackling climate change is a national priority for South Africa.

He said South Africa’s status as a water scarce country made it more vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as extreme weather conditions like drought.

Simnikiweh@citizen.co.za