Food policy, governance and the South African food security

Abstract

Good governance and properly aligned food policies are necessary strategies for food security. This article explores the impact of governance, on South Africa’s food security. The article utilised a cross section time series analysis, underpinned by the Ridge regression modelling technique to test the relationship between the endogenous latent Food security (FS) variable (Food production index, Food Imports, Household dietary index, Gross Domestic Product and Prevalence of malnutrition in the total population) and the exogenous Governance indicators (Government effectiveness, Voice and accountability, Political stability, Regulatory quality, Rule of law, and Control of corruption), from 1996 to 2020, utilising secondary data from the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and World Bank. Results from the article show that the South African food governance challenges are mostly related to Corruption, Government ineffectiveness, and Regulatory quality. Political stability and the Rule of law are almost insignificant to explain an impactful relationship. The article recommended on the need to develop a compendious food security framework targeting agriculture productivity, societal inclusion, and overall improvement of dietary intake in poor communities.