South Africa is experiencing a severe food crisis, both in terms of affordability and availability. Loadshedding (planned electricity cuts due to power supply constraints) and disruptions to supply chain systems affect food imports and exports, and therefore, the availability of food and how much it ultimately costs.
Supply chain disruptions can result from war, geo-political conflicts, political interventions and pandemics. For instance, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered a global food shortage because it threatened grain exports to the rest of the world. When food prices soar because of supply shortages or inflation, the world’s poor suffer the most. In South Africa, one-third of the country’s children are excluded from adequate nutrition.
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