Growing concern over food insecurity in SA
There's growing concern from South Africa's importers and exporters of food about food insecurity in the country.
They say promises made in the State of the Nation Address last week were simply not enough to fix the problem.
A study has recently found that out of a sample of about 39 million South Africans, 7.8 million people are food insecure.
Fred Hume from MD Hume International says the situation is dire.
Hume says while the President reassured the nation that the country’s port and freight problems would be resolved loadshedding remains a problem.
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"No amount of talking will fix our country's infrastructure, this will take years cost billions of rands and will require effort by suitably qualified civil servants and an army of service providers as well as whole or possibly partial privatisation of ports and other key infrastructure.
"Right now, we need to focus on what we can do immediately to stave of the food insecurity and the rising cost of food we as the country face. Considering that we are already experiencing a shortage of poultry, lets deal with the easy issues."
Hume believes their response to the bird flu outbreak that's led to the culling of millions of chickens has been inadequate.
"The response to this outbreak has been extremely, badly managed. Government has not been able to stand the spread of the disease largely as a result of the inability to curtail the movement of live birds and the failure to compensate farmers for losses suffered."
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