Building a national food-affordability framework
On 23 and 24 April 2026, the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ), the DSTI–NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of Pretoria and the Food Prices Working Group of the Just Transition in the Food System Network convened a Food Prices and Affordability in South Africa Symposium in Johannesburg.
The symposium brought together government officials, academics, civil society organisations, activists, and informal traders. Over two days, participants examined the scale and drivers of food unaffordability and debated practical interventions to advance a national food-affordability policy framework.
A structural and worsening crisis
South Africa produces enough food to feed its population, but millions of people cannot afford nutritious diets. Evidence presented at the symposium showed that 63.5% of households are food insecure and 17.5% experience severe food insecurity. The number of severely food-insecure people increased from 5.2 million in 2019 to 8 million in 2023.
Food prices have risen faster than wages and social grants, widening the gap between household incomes and the cost of food. A basic monthly food basket for a low-income household cost R5,443 in July 2025, while a nutritious basket cost R6,558. Both exceeded the income available to a grant-dependent household and the take-home pay of a minimum-wage worker.
Women and young children bear a disproportionate share of the harm. Food unaffordability contributes to meal skipping, poor diet quality, stunting, and preventable deaths, particularly during pregnancy and the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.
Why food prices remain high
The report identifies interlocking structural drivers across the food system. Agricultural inputs, storage, processing, and retail are highly concentrated, giving a small number of companies substantial market power. This can produce a “rocket and feather” effect: retail prices rise quickly when costs increase but fall slowly when costs decline.
Profit margins across value chains, international commodity markets, exchange-rate volatility, energy and transport costs, geopolitical disruptions, and climate shocks also shape food prices. Weak price transparency makes it difficult to distinguish cost-driven increases from opportunistic pricing.
At the same time, informal traders and smaller enterprises face regulatory and infrastructure barriers, despite evidence that street vendors and independent retailers can provide some foods more cheaply than major supermarkets.
A coordinated package of interventions
Participants agreed that there is no single solution. The report proposes a coordinated policy package that includes:
- Raising household incomes through adequate social grants, a universal basic income grant, and improved minimum wages.
- Establishing strategic food reserves and buffer stocks to stabilise prices.
- Reforming competition and agricultural marketing laws to address structural market power.
- Introducing transparent, near-real-time food-price monitoring and mandatory cost disclosure.
- Zero-rating or subsidising additional nutritious foods and considering targeted price interventions.
- Protecting municipal fresh-produce markets and investing in infrastructure for informal traders.
- Expanding preferential public procurement from small-scale farmers.
- Supporting indigenous, climate-resilient crops and shorter food supply chains.
From shared evidence to policy action
The symposium called for the Food and Nutrition Security Council to be constituted as a multi-stakeholder body capable of coordinating action across government, civil society, academia and the food system.
It also reaffirmed that access to sufficient food and children’s right to basic nutrition are constitutional rights. Addressing hunger therefore requires more than emergency relief: the state must regulate and reshape the structures that make nutritious food unaffordable.
The report lays the groundwork for continued collaboration towards a comprehensive national food-affordability policy framework. Its central message is clear: South Africa has the knowledge and policy options needed to reduce hunger, but coordinated action, political commitment and adequate resources are essential.