Kerushun Pillay
DURBAN: Growing pressure on food security over the last year has hunger NGOs concerned about their ability to provide adequately for poverty-stricken communities.
The NGOs have lamented how “volatile” food prices, caused by a weak rand, had hit their ability to deal with the increasing needs of the hungry.
Research by the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (Pacsa), which keeps price records of basic food items, states that the price of basic nutrition is increasingly out of reach for lower-income earners.
The findings, released last week, said a family of four would have to fork out just over R2 500 monthly to get the required minimum amount of nutrition. Inflation on minimum nutritional food items for families of four to seven members had increased by 15% year-on-year, it said.
This could, said Pacsa Research and Advocacy Co-ordinator Julie Smith, greatly increase the number of people who became dependent on hunger-relief organisations.
FoodBank SA, which provides food rescue services across the country, said it feared it would be unable to service all its beneficiaries.
“A year ago we were providing assistance to 287 beneficiary organisations serving 85 000 people. Today we have 550 beneficiary organisations serving more than 140 000 beneficiaries,” Andy du Plessis, managing director of FoodBank SA, said yesterday.
“We will definitely see an increase in the number of food insecure people growing steadily.”
Saira Khan, chief executive of Stop Hunger Now, said: “We are already seeing an increase (of those in need). A lot of early child development organisations as well as the elderly have called on us recently.”
Stop Hunger Now services nearly 400 early childhood development facilities – all of which do not receive social grants.
They also supply other NGOs. Khan said the quality of their offerings had not yet suffered, but it might in the future.
Her organisation supplies hampers of simple ingredients like rice and soya, and faces problems with suppliers who “battle” to meet demand.
“We are committed to providing. We will do everything in our power (to do so), but things are shaky with South Africa’s finances.
“The rand-dollar exchange is also a concern.”
FoodBank SA has already resorted to requesting donations of surplus groceries from multi-national food manufacturers who have operations in South Africa, Du Plessis said.