Good day HLPE Members
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this process. The input herein is from the Chief Direcorate: Food Security team of DALRRD.
RESPONSES:
Different ways of defining resilience :
How do different groups define resilience (e.g. Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations, the scientific / peer reviewed literature, other key rights holders)?
The ability to recover and restore the original status quicker.
What are the main types of vulnerabilities facing food supply chains and what are the potential consequences of the food system actors?
The main types of vulnerabilities facing the food system chains include power (electrical) insecurity affecting the irrigation schedule, and storage facilities because the food needs cold storage facilities. At the level of production, an increase the cost of production inputs and the production processes. The breakdown of diseases and pests also affects the food system because production gets affected resulting in food shortage for consumers. Additionally, any political uprisings affect the whole chain because the inputs will not reach the farm, workers will be unable to get to their workstations and produced food will not be distributed.
The food system in South Africa is characterised by under–and–overfeeding. There are malnourished people as well as obese people in the country. The need to transform food systems is critical. The system disadvantages mainly the smallholder and subsistence sector when it comes to access and affordability of inputs, as they are operating on the periphery.
Furthermore, Climate related shocks inclusive of floods, droughts, biological hazards and conflicts affect food supply chains equally.
Under researched shocks include biological hazards and these require further research as they don’t have boundaries.
Vulnerable communities (especially women, youth and people with disabilities) are totally displaced and call for more funding support which normally would not be budgeted for.
What resilience frameworks are there that should be explored?
The Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) Programme is one of the frameworks that can be replicated. Concerted efforts to understand livelihoods and how they are impacted by shocks have been the priority for this programme. It is the fundamental view of the RVAA Programme that there is a pressing need to advance from planning for response to planning for and building resilience, which will require poverty analysis as well as resilience measurement and monitoring (SADC, 2018 – Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security and Vulnerability in Southern Africa, 2018).
3. Understanding and mitigating trade-offs:
- Are there trade-offs between increasing adaptation to one type of shock and creating other types of fragility?
- What is the impact on resilience programming of different understandings of food security and nutrition (e.g. focus on nutrition, the four pillars, the six dimensions of food security, etc)?
3.1 Increasing environmental or climate change adaptation through agro-ecology will have a long and sustained positive impact on the quality of the soil structure but may in the short to medium term affect large scale production of food.
3.2 Resilience programming will have an everlasting impact on food and nutrition security pillars as food access, availability, utilization, stability will improve and be able to withstand different shocks and knocks, Developing food and nutrition security resilient strategies aimed at the most vulnerable also ensures that a buffer is created to cushion those likeliest to be hit by seen and unforeseen shocks.
4. Existing programmes and policies to promote resilience – a gap analysis of current strategies and recommendations:
- How are countries preparing for food systems resilience today? What are the main policies and documents that can provide information on these national level plans?
- Are there current or recent partnerships / initiatives proven to contribute to building resilience? What are the lessons learned?
- Could you provide success stories and best practices examples that can be applied to other locations?
- Is the currently portfolio of resilience programming well aligned to different types of foreseen and unforeseen shocks, scales, or parts of the food system?
- What gaps are there in the current portfolio of country adaptation / resilience policies?
- What types of policy changes are needed to enhance the resilience of local, regional and global food systems, including with respect to global trading rules and considering inclusive and equitable employment opportunities, environmental sustainability, access to healthy diets and human rights?
- What is the role of states in building more resilient food systems, including with respect to providing infrastructure, regulatory measures, international policy coordination and policy coherence?
- What measures are necessary to incentivize private sector strategies and investments that promote supply chain resilience?
Existing Policies:
4.1 The National Food and Nutrition Security Policy which seeks to provide an overarching guiding framework to maximise synergy between the different strategies and programmes of government and civil society.
The Agriculture, Agro-processing Masterplan that serves as a partnership compact for the country:
Partnerships and measures to improve:
4.2 Partnership between the department of agriculture and the Commodity Organisations, inclusive of farmer associations.
4.3 Innovative research is conducted resulting in drought resistant seeds and the re-introduction of indigenous crops.
4.4 Not well aligned due to the fragmented conception, development and implementation, monitoring and reporting of multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder adaptation and mitigation policies and strategies.
4.5 Improved coordination, monitoring and reporting by different stakeholders involved in ensuring a resilient food system.
4.6 To create a conducive environment for continuous food systems dialogue by multi-sectors and stakeholders and put building blocks (resources – human and capital, legislation, policies, research, monitoring and evaluation framework, etc) in place to ensure achievement of set objectives. Roll-out country specific interventions or initiatives.
4.7 Tax rebates and profit. Roll-out a deliberate country-wide infrastructure programme to improve production, storage and movement of food. Ensure uninterrupted supply of critical resources such as water and electricity. Depoliticize the municipalities and ensure the hiring of skilled professionals.
Д-р. Jemina Moeng