**6. Policy implications**

A collective vision or 'game plan' to implement nutrition outcomes in agriculture is required and the NDP can be seen as creating the correct architecture. It provides a plan for the reduc‐ tion of poverty and inequality, with increased employment, affordable access to quality health care and household food and nutrition security as milestones. It fed the development of the current MTSF and evidence of deeper political commitment towards nutrition within food security programing has become evident in the new Food Security and Nutrition Policy for South Africa which was gazetted in 2014.

The policy has an over‐arching mandate, with the Presidency at the apex of the policy. Implementation will entrench public, private and civil society partnerships. An Inter‐ Ministerial Committee on Food Security is advised by a National Food Security Advisory Committee, comprised of recognised experts from organized agriculture, food security and consumer bodies, as well as climate change and environmental practitioners. Although ambitious, this has the potential to allow for more effective coordination among sectors for nutrition outcomes. However, specific areas where this policy is still lacking include(1) pro‐ moting diversification of agricultural production,(2) improving processing to retain nutri‐ tional value of foods and (3) improvement of storage of nutrient‐rich foods. These gaps along with stakeholder comments still indicate misunderstanding of the importance of nutrient density and dietary diversity.

strategic priority areas [i.e. NSNP, INP, EPWP, Working for Water, CASP, Ilema/Letsema, Land Care etc.]. Today SA is able to attain national food sufficiency through a combination of own production and importation, but access to nutritious foods by all households is not

Within the context of food security and nutrition, South Africa still faces serious challenges, including inadequate safety nets and food emergency management systems, lack of knowl‐ edge and resources to make optimal food choices by citizens, in cases where land is available, it is not always optimally utilised for food production, limited access to processing facilities or markets for small‐scale primary producers, climate change, undermining of ecosystems, lack of sustainability and no adequate, timely and relevant information on food security and

Although nutrition is frequently included within governments' policies, frameworks and programmes, it is mostly reported upon in terms of 'under‐nourishment', focusing on vulner‐ able people rather than adopting a more integrated approach. Although reference is made to nutrition in many programmes, it is not always clear how they will contribute to better nutri‐ tion as expressed in these goals. There is, in particular, a lack of inclusion of(1) the promotion of diversifying agricultural production, (2) improved processing of foods to retain nutrient

Apart from the health sector, there seems to be a knowledge gap on the role which essen‐ tial nutrients (in addition to kilojoules/calories) play on the health status of the population. Furthermore, there is still a general lack of understanding of the economic and social burden which malnutrition plays in the country. There is consequently very little coordination across technical areas in relation to nutrition. A deeper understanding of the relevance of the inter‐ linkage between agriculture and nutrition for improved food and nutrition security is still an

A collective vision or 'game plan' to implement nutrition outcomes in agriculture is required and the NDP can be seen as creating the correct architecture. It provides a plan for the reduc‐ tion of poverty and inequality, with increased employment, affordable access to quality health care and household food and nutrition security as milestones. It fed the development of the current MTSF and evidence of deeper political commitment towards nutrition within food security programing has become evident in the new Food Security and Nutrition Policy

The policy has an over‐arching mandate, with the Presidency at the apex of the policy. Implementation will entrench public, private and civil society partnerships. An Inter‐ Ministerial Committee on Food Security is advised by a National Food Security Advisory Committee, comprised of recognised experts from organized agriculture, food security and consumer bodies, as well as climate change and environmental practitioners. Although ambitious, this has the potential to allow for more effective coordination among sectors for

value and (3) improved storage of nutrient‐rich foods (**Table 2**).

yet guaranteed.

14 International Development

food security programmes.

area that needs more attention.

for South Africa which was gazetted in 2014.

**6. Policy implications**

In the past 24 months, the ministerial partners involved have engaged in order to plan and streamline the policy prior to gazetting the implementation plan. The associated stakeholder communication has resulted in a more informed group of policy influencers with the hope that the long‐awaited implementation plan will include nutrition‐sensitive considerations.

It is not yet clear what community level roll‐out will include, but it is anticipated that indi‐ vidual departmental programmes will be developed to build clear evidence of the link between agriculture and nutrition. These programmes and projects need to sufficiently articulate how the evidence base and lessons learned from the projects will contribute to other interventions. Projects like these could be designed and studied as potential models for greater nutritional impact, i.e. how to make it work, the extent of impact etc., including those linked to:


Advocacy is a critical element of any effort to raise the policy profile and social consensus for nutrition. Placing nutrition outcomes high on the agenda of agriculture and the food system requires strong leadership (champions for nutrition and food security) with a multi‐dimensional understanding. The government needs to also invest in scientific evidence such as conduct‐ ing baseline surveys and, undertake formative research; develop community awareness; achieve behaviour change and conduct regular monitoring and evaluation, as well as docu‐ ment findings and lessons learned. Organisational arrangements allowing for shared resources, responsibility, accountability and decision‐making with incentives for collaboration will have to be put in place.

With increased economic growth the South‐African agricultural sector is becoming less of a provider of food for direct consumption, to more a supplier of raw ingredients to the food industry. The post‐harvest value chain of the food system is thus also becoming more important. Policy action to incentivize, regulate and educate the food industry and to encourage consumers to make more nutritious choices is currently limited and needs to be further explored.
