OP-ED: SA’s food system on trial — Who controls what we eat?
South Africa produces enough food at the national level, yet millions still go hungry, skip meals or survive on inadequate and unhealthy diets because sufficient, nutritious food remains out of reach. The deeper problem is a food system in which concentrated corporate, financial, infrastructural and digital power increasingly shapes how food is produced, distributed, priced and accessed.
South Africa's food system is described as being on trial, with the focus on the concentration of power that shapes food production, distribution, pricing, and access. Despite the country having sufficient national food production and a sophisticated agricultural economy, millions still struggle with hunger, malnutrition, skipped meals, and food anxiety.
The op-ed argues that the crisis is not primarily a scarcity issue, but rather a power crisis, with key actors occupying strategic bottlenecks to control access, prices, and choices. This architecture of influence makes it difficult for farmers, processors, and informal traders to break free from proprietary systems, access financing, and secure retail shelf space.
The result is a complex system in which consumers' choices are increasingly shaped by the environment corporations have built around them, rather than being free to make their own decisions.
Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Maverick's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
