KZN MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Themba Mthembu says the department is working to ensure that no household goes hungry.
Challenges facing food security include the rising food prices.
Health experts say that one in five children are not getting adequate proteins and vitamins and suffer from malnutrition and learning disabilities.
Speaking at a media briefing at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Monday, MEC Mthembu outlined the department’s strategic plans for 2017/18 and said food insecurity will become the overarching focus of the department.
Food must be seen as a health and social justice issue, before it is seen as business.
‘This is not just a matter of planting more crops and raising more livestock, but dealing with issues of making nutritious food affordable to the poor.
‘The well-being of our nation will be compromised if we do not find ways to provide nutritious food for the poor.
‘We need to look at how we can measure our success according to the healthy foods we produce.’ said MEC Mthembu.
Research
He said collaborative research with other institutions will form an important part of the programme, which includes the extensive growing of a diversity of food crops.
These will include indigenous crops and fruit trees.
He said while the department will work directly with subsistence farmers, the plan is to develop an agency that will largely be concerned with commercial farming.
All the department’s entities such as Agribusiness Development Agency (ADA) and Mjindi Farming will be amalgamated into one unit.
The department’s strategy will also involve the development of an intensive urban farming programme, aimed at reviving the township economy and aggressively addressing poverty and unemployment.
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