South Africa: Millions lacking despite local veggies

While South Africa produced enough food for local and export, a lot of people still went to bed hungry despite the presence of indigenous highly nutritious leafy vegetables in almost every part of the country, Thabo Ramashala, the director of plant production at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said.

He said: “About 14 million people are still food insecure, with research indicating local households are becoming increasingly dependent on social grants, a situation which is not sustainable in the long term.”

Ramashala was speaking at a recent Water Research Commission (WRC) symposium on water use and the nutritional value of indigenous and traditional South African underutilised food crops for improved livelihood.

WRC says while statistics indicate that the general intake of fresh fruit and vegetables by South Africans is below the daily requirements of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the country is rich in edible plants that could potentially address food insecurity in many poor households.

The WRC said the 400g daily per capita intake of fruit and vegetables was recommended by WHO to protect against communicable diseases.

Researchers at the symposium pointed out that traditional leafy vegetables, which are generally rich resources of nutrients and antioxidants, are usually associated with poverty in South Africa and are looked down upon, yet they help in reducing malnutrition.

Ramashala said South Africa focused very little on indigenous food species to date, while the rest of the world had taken note of their commercial value.

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