daniel chigunwe
It is critical to celebrate World Food Day in order to narrow Africa’s food security gap.
These were the words Department of Agricultural Economics Professor at Stellenbosch University, Andre Jooste. Jooste said while Covid-19 has cast a shadow over this cause, said the main threats to food security in Africa are poor utilisation of resources, production practices, costly supply chains, absence of efficient markets, low skilled people and the slow adoption of technology’’.
“Therefore Celebrating World Food Day is important so that one can be appreciative of having food on the table and also to make sure we understand that everybody is not as privileged to have food on the table each day and closing this gap is very important,” said Jooste.
Closing this gap, former Miss South Africa Teen title holder and owner of Holonathi, Gina Athanassiou, is taking a stance in collaboration with Miss SA by packing boxes of nutritional meals that will be distributed to thousands of children across the Western Cape over the next few days.
“This World Food Day meal donation is in line with our DNA since Holonathi means ‘grow with us’. We grow communities because we source locally; we grow the economy because we invest in human capital. We also boost the economy because the bigger the demand for our fortified staple food product, the more we buy from local farmers. It’s all interlinked,” said Athanassiou.
To eliminate hunger throughout the nation, Jooste believes that the best way the agricultural industry could prosper is by having governments play their necessary role in the sector.
“The government must reduce the cost of doing business for the agricultural sector and provide an environment where farmers can do business,” said Jooste. — iol
Bongani Ndlovu