How innovation in agriculture is combating South Africa's nutrition crisis

Poorer households are caught between food insecurity and an increasing burden of obesity and poor nutrition because cheap, highly processed food is frequently more accessible than fresh, nutritious alternatives.

The nation cannot solve the issue by merely advising people to make healthier choices, according to Rhiza Babuyile, a non-profit organisation that works with under-resourced communities through agriculture, skills development, and enterprise.

“South Africa is not underfed, but it is undernourished,” said Alef Meulenberg, founder of Rhiza Holdings. “We have many food programmes, but often the food provided is not sufficiently nutritious. We also cannot blame people for choosing cheap food when that is what they can afford. If we want healthier communities, we have to make healthier food affordable.”

This warning comes as National Nutrition Week was held from October 9 to 15, with the theme ‘Creating Healthy Food Environments for Better Nutrition’ followed by World Food Day on October 16, with the theme ‘Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow’.

For Rhiza, part of the answer is not simply distributing food but helping communities grow it, sell it and earn from it.

In areas where unemployment and low household incomes make it challenging to maintain healthier diets, the organisation uses agriculture to increase access to fresh produce and generate economic opportunities.

Its programmes, which combine hands-on farming with the business acumen required to turn food production into a source of revenue, include school vegetable gardens and youth agripreneurship.

“We have developed models where schools can develop their own vegetable food gardens,” Meulenberg said.

“We have also developed an entrepreneurship programme where young people are trained in entrepreneurial activities around organic food and healthier food options, so they can provide communities with food options they did not have before at a similar price.”

That work includes Thuthuwa Farm in Diepsloot, where participants receive crop-production training and exposure to commercial farming, and Amathuba Farm in Orange Farm, where seedlings and vegetables, including spinach, onions, broccoli, beetroot, and okra, are produced.

The aim is to move people beyond simply growing food and towards building viable agricultural businesses.

“Growing food is only one part of it,” Meulenberg said. “People need to understand the market, the customer, pricing and how to make the business sustainable.”

That is the thinking behind Rhiza’s agripreneurship model, which combines agricultural skills with entrepreneurship, employability and practical experience.

“If people can produce food and earn an income from it, you are addressing two problems at the same time,” Meulenberg said. “Food security and economic security cannot be treated as separate issues.”

The school vegetable gardens are intended to provide fresh produce while teaching children how food is grown.

Meulenberg said the benefits of better nutrition could extend well beyond the supper table.

“Better nutrition can mean less stunting, better brain and physical development and, ultimately, better educational and health outcomes,” he said.

Rhiza sees a strong link between agriculture, nutrition and innovation.

“Innovation does not necessarily mean sophisticated technology,” Meulenberg said. “It can mean finding better ways to use land, bringing young people into agriculture, connecting producers to markets and producing food closer to the communities that consume it.”

The challenge, he said, is to ensure that healthier food is available to everyone, not just those who can afford it.

“Food should nourish people, but it can also create opportunity. If we can get those two things working together, agriculture can become part of the solution to hunger, poor nutrition and unemployment.”

No single organisation or sector can create healthier food environments alone.