Food security is imperative for human survival with dignity

South Africa faces a triple burden of malnutrition. This includes underweight (caused by diets of inadequate quantities), malnourishment (arising from diets of inadequate quality) and overweight. The Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS) undertakes innovative research and critical enquiry to enable South Africa to tackle the challenges of food security and nutrition.

Food insecurity is caused by a number of factors ranging from a lack of income with which to purchase sufficient calories and nutrients, to the inability of a country or region to provide affordable food to its population, to constraints on the physical environment limiting the production of food such as water scarcity, poor soil quality and climate change.