Towards assuring food security in South Africa: Smallholder farmers as drivers

Abstract

Smallholder agricultural sector in South Africa is regarded as one of the main livelihood options for the majority of people living in rural areas. As such, many of the poorest people living in rural areas regard smallholder subsistence agriculture as an important strategy to move out of food poverty and malnutrition. Food security has since been the goal that needs to be achieved by every nation given the agricultural sector reason to be productive enough to meet the food demand of each nation. The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the role and potential of smallholder farmers as being the drivers of achieving food security in South Africa. The paper identifies key references backing up this claim and suggests some recommendations which could help improve the synergy between food security and productivity of smallholder farmers in South Africa.