Let us be blunt! The hunger situation in South Africa is nothing short of catastrophic. Hyperbole? You may think so, but the data tells the story!

Up to 20 million South Africans are on a spectrum of severe food vulnerability, including, to our shame as a country, millions of children going to sleep hungry every night

27% of our children under the age of five suffer stunting and wasting from malnutrition. This is unimaginable in a country which has no shortage of food – and devastating, not only for the children and their families, but also for the future of our country!

7-10 million tons of edible food goes to landfill each year – equivalent to 30 billion meals. All the hungry could get enough food from wasted food alone.

Up to 450 million kgs of methane gas emitted from S.A. landfills per annum.

What Can Be Done About It?

The fact is that while our company, SA Harvest – and many other hunger-relief NGOs – do amazing work (we have delivered to the hungry 53 million nutritious meals in 48 months), we by ourselves are not able to make the massive, fundamental systemic changes that are required. Only government can do this. They have the resources and the power but, tragically, our government does not have the will. Ending hunger in South Africa, preventing malnutrition in children should be their FIRST PRIORITY! That it is not, is not only heartless, cruel, and an injustice of the highest order, it also is an existential threat to this country.

There is much the government could do. I cannot deal with it all in this message, but I will devote the next few messages to as many interventions as possible.

In this message I deal, in the main, with food waste.

Food Waste – Legal Intervention

The amount of nutritious food wasted from our food chain – farmers, manufacturers and retailers – is astronomical. Ten million tons to be exact, which equates to 30 billion meals a year. With 20 million people on a spectrum of severe food vulnerability the need in a year is round 20 billion meals. So, we could end hunger in South Africa just from the edible and nutritious food that is wasted each year.

It is a no-brainer that we need legislation to curb waste and to ensure that the food that would have ended up in landfill is rescued and redistributed to people in need by appropriate organisations like SA Harvest, Food Forward SA and many other vetted and registered organisations.

The Garot Law

The first step in this process is legislation to make food waste illegal across the food chain. There are several excellent examples of successful food-waste legislation in other countries including France, which is one of best examples of the efficacy of legislation.

France has implemented a food waste policy, with specific regulations targeting supermarkets. The policy is known as the “Loi Garot” or the “Garot Law,” named after the French parliamentarian Guillaume Garot who initiated the legislation.

Passed in 2016, the Garot law has been highly effective in reducing food waste in France. It has put pressure on supermarkets to donate unsold but edible food to charitable organizations, thereby reducing the amount of food that would otherwise go to landfill. The food rescued in just the first two years post legislation, increased by almost 30%.

Importantly, the law has also raised awareness about the issue of food waste and the importance of food donation.

The critical aspects of the Garot Law are:

1. Donation Obligation: Supermarkets larger than 400 square meters are required to sign agreements with food redistribution organizations. These agreements mandate that unsold food products that are still safe for consumption must be donated rather than discarded.

2. Prohibition of Food Destruction: Supermarkets are prohibited from destroying unsold food products, including through processes like pouring bleach or damaging the products to prevent consumption.

3. Negotiated Prices: The law encourages agreements between supermarkets and food redistribution organizations to establish fair pricing for food donations. This ensures that the cost of handling and transporting donated food is not a barrier for organisations.

4. Reporting Requirements: Supermarkets are obliged to keep records of their food donations and to provide annual reports on the amount of food wasted and donated.

5. Tax Incentives: The law provides tax incentives for supermarkets that donate food. These incentives include reductions in corporate tax or income tax based on the value of the food donations made.

It is worth noting that while the focus of this policy is on supermarkets, efforts to reduce food waste extend beyond just this sector. France has implemented other initiatives targeting various stages of the food supply chain to minimise waste and promote sustainability.

Space constraints in this article prevent a thorough analysis of what the government is doing in terms of hunger relief and food waste in particular. The short answer is: nowhere near enough!!!

South Africa does not a currently have a comprehensive regulatory approach as to the monitoring and prevention of food waste at a national level, other than the CPA section 61, which outlines donations and liabilities, which by the way curtail the distribution of excess food for no logical reasons; this results in easily rescued nutritious food often being treated as waste. However, there have been some policy statements, as well as private voluntary initiatives from key players in the food and retail industry. These are the main regulative policies which are currently in place in South Africa: near enough.

In August 2014, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Enviroment (DFFE)published a National Food and Nutrition Security Policy, aimed to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of safe and nutritious food at national and household levels.

The document focused on storage facilities and stated that “Food storage facilities are essential for food security, particularly in addressing fluctuations in production such as seasonal supply variations and harvest failures, which result in unpredictable price hikes and drops. Poor storage and distribution also results in some 9-million tons of food being wasted each year.”  and concludes that “The need for government-led food storage facilities, especially in remote areas where there is no proper road or market infrastructure, becomes an urgent policy intervention.”

However, and this is the point, no further legislation intervention was made regarding storage facilities. There are suggestions from government as to how certain actions (in this case food storage facilities) could help in the reduction or solving of food waste and loss but no action ever seems to be taken. The government in this regard is either incompetent or could not care less!

In September 2023  a food loss and waste (FLW) “draft strategy” was distributed in the in the name of Minister Barbara Creecy, DFFE Minister for public comment.

It seemed as though this was a closely guarded state secret. Hardly anybody in the FLW space new about it. To get further information a name and cell number was given. Expectedly, it took several attempts to get hold of him ( interminable ringing cell phone) and when he finally answered, it quickly became apparent that he knew very little about the document and what the procedure was.

The DFFE extended the deadline but with no increase in advertising its existence. To cap it all, we, SA Harvest, got our submission in in time. We have not heard from the Department as to whether it was ever received, and we have not heard of details as to how work on the document is progressing after public comment.

Again, I presume, suggestions, and no action!

My comment is that the  (draft) strategy, should take a much tougher stance, and mandate by law what is needed to be done needed to be done to reduce significantly FLW, and also to bring all food policy under one roof into a single, dedicated structure.

“Given the catastrophe in South Africa around hunger, malnutrition, loss of dignity, and the greatest injustice to South Africans –– you can’t have three different ministries responsible for creating solutions. They all have trouble communicating internally in their departments so how can they solve the country’s greatest crisis having to communicate and coordinate between themselves.

It’s no wonder we’re in such an indescribable mess with millions of our children going to sleep hungry every night in a country where there is no shortage of food.

By Alan Browde

CEO and Founder SA Harvest (NPC)