CHILD NUTRITION: New tool shows the true cost of nutritious meals for children at ECD centres

What does it actually cost to provide nutritious food to young children while they are in early childhood development (ECD) centres? A new ECD Nationally Costed Nutrition Basket tool, launching in October 2026, aims to answer this question.

The ECD Nutrition Basket, designed by the Zero2Five Trust and the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PMBEJD), together with public health nutrition consultant and registered dietitian Philippa Barnard, translates existing national nutrition guidance into a defined food requirement that can be planned, quantified, costed and monitored over time.

Currently, 40% of the Department of Basic Education’s R24-per-child-per-day ECD subsidy provided to registered centres is ring-fenced for nutrition, amounting to R9.60 per child per day. Piloting of the ECD Nutrition Basket in August and September 2026 has shown the gaps that exist between this nutrition allocation and the real cost of buying food for an early learning programme.

In September 2026, pilot costing for the nutrition basket put estimated food costs at R7.35 per child per day for children aged nine to 23 months, and R13.06 per child per day for children aged two to six years.

“There is... increasing attention to what happens in the ECD environment, because young children spend a significant part of their day there and may receive an important part of their food there... I think we also need to raise the standard of what we mean when we say, ‘children are being fed’. It’s not enough for children to have full tummies. We need to make sure that the food they’re eating is of good quality – that means vegetables, fruit, protein and a diversity of foods,” said Barnard.

“That is really central to why we developed the basket... We hope to bring to the conversation a connection between the nutritional requirement and the cost.”

The contents of the ECD Nutrition Basket are based on a practical one-week menu, developed using the national Department of Health Nutrition Guidelines for ECD Programmes and implementation experience in early learning centres. It includes a diverse range of foods across the major food groups, including fortified staple foods, vegetables, fruit, legumes, eggs, tinned fish, milk and maas.

Children in the nine-to-23-month age group usually consume smaller portions of food than older children, and rely on a milk-feeding component in their diet, according to Barnard. The ECD Nutrition Basket does not attempt to monetise breastmilk or include infant formula.

Realities in ECD centres

In most cases, ECD centres are attended by a greater number of older children in the two-to-six-years age group than younger children under 23 months, explained Barnard.

The September ECD Nutrition Basket included food costing for an “illustrative 20-child ECD centre” comprising 20% younger and 80% older children, where the children attended the programme for 20 days in a month. In this example, estimated food costs sat at R11.92 per child per day, amounting to an overall monthly cost of R4,768.47.

If all children in this illustrative centre were covered by the ECD subsidy, there would still be a shortfall of R928 per month for purchasing food items, explained Barnard. In cases where not all children at a centre were eligible for the subsidy, the financing gap could be even larger.

The current costing for the nutrition basket covers food ingredients only, excluding additional expenses such as labour, cooking fuel, cleaning materials and equipment.

An ECD practitioner in Zero2Five’s network, located in Mkhambathini Local Municipality near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, said that while they received the department’s ECD subsidy, they faced many challenges in providing adequate nutrition at their centre.

“The Department of Basic Education does not pay the subsidy on time. Children suffer, and even the workers. We’re not happy at all,” said the practitioner, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I would like to see changes in the support for nutrition of children, because in rural areas, many parents are not working.”

Another practitioner from the same municipality, also speaking anonymously, said that it was challenging to cover the cost of nutrition with the ECD subsidy due to the rising prices of food, electricity, gas and transport. Among the food items the practitioner struggled to afford each month were meat, fruits, vegetables and milk.

Reflecting on the changes they would like to see regarding nutrition support for children in ECD centres, the practitioner advocated for an increase in the funding for food costs under the ECD subsidy, and timeous payments of the subsidy to practitioners.

Making the cost of adequate nutrition visible

Barnard highlighted the strong national focus on child nutrition and ending child stunting in South Africa. She noted that while there were good nutrition guidelines in place for ECD centres, the gap emerged when it came to the implementation of these recommendations.

“[ECD centres are] an environment where we have an opportunity to improve children’s nutritional intake... Instead of saying, ‘What can we provide with the minimum amount of money,’ we’re starting with the question of what children need for good nutrition, and then saying, ‘Okay, now what does that cost?’” she said.

The monthly monitoring of food costs through the ECD Nutrition Basket could be useful to a range of stakeholders in the early learning sector, added Barnard. For centres and practitioners, it provided a practical framework for nutritional food provision; for civil society, it was a “transparent reference point” for understanding and discussing the cost of providing nutritious food to young children; and for the government and policymakers, it could be an evidence base for planning and budgeting in ECD settings.

“As food prices change and fluctuate month on month, it can also expose potential risk... If one component of the food system comes under pressure and the prices increase, what kind of impact does that have on the foods that can be provided at an ECD centre?” said Barnard.

Daily Maverick reached out to the departments of health and basic education about the ECD Nutrition Basket, but had not received a response by the time of publishing. DM