Human Development and Food Sovereignty: A Step Closer to Achieving Food Security in South Africa’s Rural Households

Introduction

The importance and relevance of the right of access to food is that it is at the core of human development. This is because human survival is dependent on the proper realisation of the right of access to food. This entails that for the right to food to be effectively realised, factors that negatively impact on its realisation should be addressed. In South Africa, one such factor is income poverty, which makes it difficult for households to escape the poverty trap. This is because most households rely on social welfare grants as a means of livelihood. For instance, the General Household Survey of 2015 (GHS; Government of South Africa, 2015: 63–64) indicates that 21.7% of households nationally depended on social grants as a source of income in 2015. At the end of 2018 there were 17,731,402 recipients of social grants in South Africa (Stats SA Factsheet, 2018). This wider dependence on social grants makes households vulnerable to food insecurity due to lack of income to access basic needs including food. As a result most households, especially those that are rural, bear the brunt of severe lack of access to food. The GHS indicates that rural provinces experienced inadequate and severely inadequate access to food within that period (GHS 2015: 65–66).

As a result, income poverty is a direct indicator of human poverty (Hulme et al., 2001; Pronk, 2005). According to Ludi and Bird (2007), who borrow the World Bank definition on income poverty, a person is considered poor if their consumption or income level falls below the minimum necessary to meet basic needs. In addition, another factor that prevents households from escaping the poverty trap is socioeconomic deprivation. This is defined as the lack of social and economic benefits that are considered basic necessities of a society or community or in a broader sense of a region (Sarkar et al., 2014: 272–273). Accordingly, the Human Development Report (HDR) (2000) states that human poverty is a major obstacle to attaining a decent standard of living and realising human rights (HDR, 2000: 33). This entails that poverty has the propensity to deny households access to food due to a lack of income to purchase food that is available in the markets. According to paragraph 19 of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen Declaration), poverty perpetuates food insecurity in that it has various manifestations including a lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods. This means social problems such as poverty that often culminate in food insecurity can only be efficiently addressed through the effective implementation of comprehensive social development programmes.

As a result human rights, including the right to food, place an obligation on states to enact policies that advance both civil and socioeconomic rights. Such policies should efficiently address the state of social wellbeing of individuals. According to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food (2008), the right to food is the right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and ensures a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear. In this instance, the right to food plays a vital role in ensuring states adopt measures aimed at reducing poverty and food insecurity by adopting food security interventions. This means states should adopt a human rights approach in improving food security with the aim of ensuring that rights are not only fulfilled and protected but are also respected.

According to O’Connor et al. (2008: 6), a human rights approach to poverty reduction refers to methodologies and processes that adhere to a set of core principles and standards derived from the international human rights legal framework. This entails that state policies on poverty alleviation should not only be aimed at intervention but also empowerment. According to paragraph 18 of the United Nations Principles and Guidelines for a Human Rights Approach to Poverty Alleviation Food Interventions (2006) (the UN Principles and Guidelines on Poverty Interventions), one reason why the human rights framework is compelling in the context of poverty is that it has the potential to empower the poor. As a result, state parties have adopted human rights frameworks that give effect to the right to food within the broader context of human rights. The inclusion of the right to food within the broader framework of human rights has also led states to adopt food-specific frameworks to give effect to this right.

The government of South Africa has thus committed itself internationally to realising the right of access to sufficient food. South Africa has since ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1996). It has signed the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). In 2000, South Africa adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration (Millennium Declaration), which sets out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in 2009, it adopted the Rome Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security (Rome Declaration, 2009). Goal 1 of the MDGs focused on the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty and a target to ‘halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger’. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the MDGs on 2 August 2015. Goals 1 and 2 of the SDGs provide that the member states to the 2030 Agenda commit to ensure that poverty, hunger and food insecurity are eradicated by 2030. Principle 3 of the Rome Declaration provides that the state parties must strive for a comprehensive twin-track approach to food security that consists of:

These commitments align with South Africa’s vision as outlined in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) (1994) and the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 (2012). The central aim of the RDP was to ensure that the quality of life of all South Africans be improved. As a result, it set out 10 priority areas on which the government needed to focus to achieve its objectives of a better quality of life for all. The priority areas included the provision of basic services in the form of nutrition and social security and social welfare. In the short term this called for an all-encompassing social welfare system that was consistent with section 27(1)(c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution of South Africa). To this end, short-term food security interventions in the form of social grants have a meaningful impact, judging by the number of recipients who have benefited from state grants. A projection between 2003 and 2011 reveals that in the year 2003 there were 3.1 million adult and 3.7 million beneficiaries of social grants. These beneficiaries increased significantly in 2011 with approximately 5 million adult and 10 million beneficiaries (Stats SA Poverty Trends Report, 2014; Samson et al. 2006: 2). This number of social grant beneficiaries has since tripled with nearly 18 million beneficiaries by 2018, making social welfare the second highest source of income in South Africa (Stats SA Factsheet, 2018).

Paragraph 24 of the NDP 2030 aims to inform government policy for eliminating poverty and reducing inequality. In line with the White Paper for Social Welfare of 1997, paragraph 53 of the NDP 2030 endeavours the government to develop a comprehensive social protection system that will include the provision of social grants. This provision is important in the fight against food insecurity because the most common short-term measure in South Africa aimed at reducing food insecurity is the provision of social grants. To some extent these grants assist households in meeting their basic survival needs (Brand, 2002). Research studies indicate that social grants play a vital role in alleviating household poverty especially in child- and female-headed households (Goldblatt, 2009). This entails that social grants as a food security intervention provide a formidable immediate strategy in reducing food insecurity in rural households due to unemployment and lack of income. However, in the long term, social welfare is insufficient to provide for future food needs. The reason for this is that social grants seek to address the immediate food security needs of households. Considering the significant increase in social grant beneficiaries, it is proposed that subsistence agriculture should be promoted as part of the complementary transformative social protection. According to Devereux (2016: 52), the focus of social protection is to alleviate income poverty and manage livelihood vulnerability. This entails that households are empowered to enhance their incomes and be self-reliant (Devereux, 2016: 52–57). Subsistence farming as a livelihood strategy has two main outputs: to provide food for household consumption and an extra source of income (Morton, 2007: 19680). Moreover, studies show that access to land and farming activities is vital in securing households against severe hunger (Pienaar and Von Fintel, 2013: 19).

Hence, in fulfilling its medium- and long-term obligations, the South African government has implemented legislative frameworks and policies aimed at reducing food insecurity through agrarian reform including subsistence farming. The Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF): A Framework to guide government’s programme in the electoral mandate period 2009–2014, which was incorporated in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (2009), provides that to halve poverty, governments should develop a comprehensive rural development strategy. This should encompass land and agrarian reform and food security through promoting the expansion of small-scale agricultural production and other economic activities. In 2013 the MTSF 2009–2014 was replaced by the MTSF 2014–2019 as part of the implementation of the NDP 2030 adopted in 2012. In terms of the MTSF, poverty alleviation through agrarian means is an important food security intervention because subsistence agriculture not only ensures food security but also provides income opportunities for households (Altman et al., 2009). This is because central to the use of subsistence agriculture as a food security strategy is the concept of food sovereignty. According to Wittman (2011: 88), food sovereignty entails the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and to define their own food and agriculture systems.

Therefore, the above-mentioned food security strategies are consistent with section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution of South Africa, which provides that everyone has the right of access to sufficient food. Section 27(2) of the Constitution of South Africa provides that the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights. This imposes an obligation on the government to take legislative and other measures to ensure that strategies are in place to achieve the realisation of the right of access to food. The importance of the right of access to food in minimising hunger and lack of food for poor and vulnerable households has been the subject of court scrutiny in South Africa for years. In the case of Khosa v Minister of Social Development (2004 6 SA 505 (CC) para 80), it was held that the right to social security be extended to include permanent residents as recipients of social grants. In para 114 the court reasoned that the right to social security right goes to one of the core values of our Constitution – human dignity. The state has an obligation to ensure its citizens have access to basic needs such as food, clean water and shelter. Social security is a vital component of the social system that is available for those who cannot provide these basic needs for themselves or their families. In the recent case of Black Sash Trust v Minister of Social Development (2017 ZACC 8 para 36) the Constitutional Court, in granting direct access, held as follows:

The constitutional right to social assistance that for many, especially children, the elderly and the indigent, provide the bare bones of a life of dignity, equality and freedom is directly involved, across the land.

Therefore, the aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of human development and food sovereignty in promoting subsistence agriculture as food security strategy. The argument presented in this paper is that sustainable subsistence agriculture can only be achieved within the broader framework of human development, land reform and rural development. Further that food sovereignty can only be achieved in light of sustainable farming that takes into account the needs and demands of rural households. Firstly, the relationship between human development and the right of access to food is discussed. Secondly, the concept of food sovereignty as established in international law and its interconnection to food security is examined. Thirdly, international instruments, regional instruments and national legislative frameworks and policies that give effect to South Africa’s obligations to promote agriculture as food security strategy are discussed to indicate the importance of subsistence farming in promoting food security in rural communities.

Human development and the right of access to food

In South Africa, legislative frameworks aim to ensure human development and survival and curb the inequality brought about by poverty and food insecurity (Liebenberg and Goldblatt, 2007; Mafunganyika, 2011). The inequality perpetuated by food insecurity is evident from the fact that although poverty is widespread in South Africa, those living in rural areas still bear the brunt of deprivation and disadvantage (Binza, 2007). This position has not changed over the years. In 2015, at least 25.2% (13.8 million people) of South Africa’s population lived in extreme poverty. Taking into account the Upper Bound Poverty Line and the Lower Bound Poverty Line, 30.3 million people lived in poverty, amounting to 55.5% of the population. The majority of the African population accounted for 64.2% of those that faced poverty, with the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces being the most impoverished provinces with at least 72.9% and 72.4% residents respectively in poor households (Stats SA Poverty Trends Report, 2017). As a result, the government has taken several measures, including the promulgation and adoption of legislative frameworks and policies aimed at possibly reducing food insecurity in rural areas. The Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy of 2000 (ISRDS) and the CRDP are examples of such measures. The importance of these policies can be found in the argument advanced by Taylor (2002) that the proper realisation of socioeconomic rights is an essential element of human security. According to Taylor (2002: 31–32) human security:

is based on the idea that all human beings should be able to live a life of dignity and respect and that this can only be achieved when human beings are free from both political fear and socio-economic want.

According to the definition coined at the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome ‘food security’ exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. This definition reflects the elements of the right to food as set out in paragraph 6 of CESCR General Comment No. 12, 1999 of the Committee Economic Social Cultural Rights (General Comment 12) namely availability, accessibility and adequacy. Therefore, tackling household food insecurity especially in rural areas is an advancement of human security and development. This is so because the defining feature of food insecurity is that it entails the restriction of opportunities for a person to pursue their wellbeing (Kapindu, 2006). Food insecurity diminishes human capabilities and renders the affected persons not only economically vulnerable, but also physically insecure (McMurray and Jansen van Rensburg, 2004). This in turn affects human development and wellbeing, which requires governments to promote access to basic amenities such as food, healthcare and education etc.

Hence, human development plays a vital role in ensuring that people’s capabilities to live long and healthy lives are strengthened (Alkire, 2010). This is so because factors such as hunger and food insecurity limit the capability of people to live a dignified life by preventing households and individuals from exercising opportunities such as education and healthcare that can help their development (African Human Development Report, 2012). Achieving human development ultimately leads households to adopt processes that enable them to escape hunger and food insecurity. This entails that households are equipped with the capabilities to be food secure (Burchi and De Muro, 2012).

To this end, section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution of South Africa imposes a positive obligation on the state to ensure that everyone has access to sufficient food and water, subject to certain limitations imposed by section 27(2). This section provides that the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources. In the case of Soobramoney v Minister of Health, Kwazulu-Natal (1998 (1) SA 765 (CC) para 22-24) the Constitutional Court went on to consider whether Mr Soobramoney ought to receive dialysis treatment at a state hospital in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, which entitle everyone to access to health care services provided by the state (s 27). The court noted that the state has a constitutional obligation within its available resources to provide healthcare as well as sufficient food and water and social security. The court found, however, that the Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal does not have sufficient funds to cover the cost of services being provided to the public. However, in the case of Government of RSA v Grootboom (2001 1 SA 46 (CC) para 38–46), the Constitutional Court held that the unavailability of resources does not prevent the government from enacting appropriate policies and programmes aimed at the realisation of socio-economic rights. This duty entails enacting appropriate programmes that will enable individuals and households to enjoy their right of access to food. The state, taking its cue from section 7(2) of the Constitution of South Africa, must in other words have short-, medium- and long-term measures in place such as the provision of social grants to meet immediate food needs and skills development in subsistence agriculture to meet future food needs. This will ensure respect for, as well as the protection, promotion and fulfilment of the right of access to sufficient food in accordance with its national and international commitments and obligations. Such interventions also take cognisance of the fact that people living in poverty not only have needs but also have rights, the right to food being one such right (Brand, 2005).

These provisions make it clear that socioeconomic rights require the government to take positive measures to enable people to access certain basic needs (resources, opportunities and services) necessary for human beings to lead a dignified life (Khoza, 2007; Brand, 2005). Accordingly, socioeconomic rights are important to those groups that are often affected by poverty and experience barriers that block their access to resources, opportunities and services in society (Manamela, 2004). According to Liebenberg and Goldblatt (2007), socioeconomic rights have as one of their aims to bridge the social disparities between the privileged and the poor.

Socioeconomic rights create an interconnectedness between social development and human wellbeing to enable governments to come up with commitments and goals aimed at improving the livelihood of people through development (Copenhagen Declaration, 1995). At the Copenhagen summit, governments recognised that human rights are indivisible, interrelated and mutually reinforcing (Sano, 2000). Paragraph 6 of the Copenhagen Declaration endeavours governments to take cognisance of the fact that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development.

In adopting such a holistic approach, the right to food is realised within the rights-based approach in the context of the right to development. According to the Declaration on the Right to Development of 1986 (DRD, 1986), development is an inalienable human right by virtue of that every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in that all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised. In light of the above definition, the right to development plays a central role in realising the right to food. This is so because all rights that is civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are indivisible and interdependent and to promote development, equal attention and urgent consideration should be given to the implementation, promotion and protection of such rights (Preamble of the DRD, 1986). This entails that for the right to food to be effectively realised, factors that negatively impact on its realisation should be addressed. In South Africa, these factors include geographical location of rural areas, gender inequality, unemployment and large number of people in households (Dugard and Mohlakoana, 2009: 546–548; Lalthapersad-Pillay, 2008: 18; Mears and Blaauw, 2011: 78–95).

The concept of food sovereignty in achieving food security

Central to the use of subsistence agriculture as a food security strategy is the concept of food sovereignty. The Via Campesina at the 1996 World Food Security Summit reflected the importance of food sovereignty in the realisation of the right to food in the statement where it was submitted that the right to food could only be realised where food sovereignty is guaranteed. Commitment 3 of the Rome Plan of Action provides that state parties intend to pursue participatory and sustainable food, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development policies and practices in high and low potential areas that are essential for adequate and reliable food supplies at the household, national, regional and global levels and combat pests, drought and desertification, considering the multifunctional character of agriculture. This character is evidenced by the fact that agriculture can serve two functions for households: a source of food and a source of income (Aliber and Hart, 2009: 439–440). These functions are vital in the context of rural development where non-farm and on-farm activities ensure a holistic approach to realising the right of access to food.

Paragraph 23 of the World Food Security Plan of Action of 1996 (the Rome Plan of Action, 1996) provides that it is imperative that food production be increased, particularly in low-income, food-deficit countries, to meet the needs of the undernourished and food insecure, the additional food requirements resulting from population growth, demand for new food products due to rising standards of living and changes in consumption patterns. This paragraph brings to light two important aspects, firstly, that in the absence of sufficient food production food security cannot be achieved. Secondly, that individuals, households, communities and states cannot achieve the right to food without being food secure. It is thus proper to conclude that food sovereignty plays a vital role in realising the right to food.

Pertinent food-specific policies and human rights instruments: An international law perspective

The importance of food-specific policies is derived from the central aim of the United Nations (UN) Principles and Guidelines on Poverty Interventions of 2006 to assist countries in translating human rights norms, standards and principles into pro-poor policies and strategies. Para 182 of the UN Principles and Guidelines on Poverty Interventions identifies three major elements in respect of agriculture as a food security intervention that governments should consider in giving effect to poverty alleviation policies that states should:

The above elements are integral in using agricultural strategies to meet the basic need of the right of access to food because they aim to empower the poor to be self-sufficient in producing food. This is in accordance with article 11(2) of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1996) that provides state parties recognise the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed to improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition including developing or reforming agrarian systems. In simple terms, the above provisions promote food sovereignty.

Pertinent food specific policies and programmes in Africa: A regional perspective

The foremost legal instrument that protects human rights in Africa is the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 1986 (the African Charter). Although, the African Charter does not specifically make provision for the right to food, article 22(1) of the African Charter provides that all peoples shall have the right to their economic, social and cultural development with due regard to their freedom and identity and in the equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind. However, article 22(2) places a duty on state parties to ensure the exercise of the right to development. Taking into consideration the framing of article 22 of the African Charter, there is a threefold duty in respect of the right to development:

Taking into account the duties imposed on governments by the right to development and the attributes of the right to development above, it is clear that because it falls under socioeconomic rights, the right to food is implied in the African Charter. Moreover, according to the Millennium Declaration, the millennium goals are developmental. That is because the millennium goals are coined around human development and share the attributes of international development goals that in turn have poverty alleviation and social development as their core. Because Goals 1 and 2 of the SDGs aim to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger and food insecurity, it suffices to conclude these developmental goals advocate for the effective realisation of the right to food. Therefore, an analogy can be drawn to the effect that the right to development includes a realisation of the right to food as envisaged in article 22 of the African Charter.

Article 66 of the African Charter provides that special protocols or agreements may, if necessary, supplement the provisions of the present charter. Article 15 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the African Women’s Protocol) provides that state parties shall ensure that women have the right to nutritious and adequate food. In this regard, they shall respond appropriately to provide women with access to clean drinking water, sources of domestic fuel, land and the means of producing nutritious food and establish adequate systems of supply and storage to ensure food security. The above provisions clearly indicate that the African Charter protects the right to food.

However, Africa continues to lag in food security efforts often due to poor governance and poor policies. Pro-good governance regional policies and agreements such as the Maputo Declaration, Abuja Declaration on Development of Agribusiness and Agro-Industries in Africa (the Abuja Declaration, 2010) and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, 2003 (CAADP) are indicative of inequalities that exist within member states in so far as social and economic transformation is concerned. The CAADP provides that it aims to alert African governments to the need to adopt policies that will make a difference to Africa’s agricultural sector. In this instance, African governments are encouraged to adopt policies that promote agriculture to be the engine of economic growth. This goal is consistent with the viewpoint advanced in the World Development Report: Agriculture for Development of 2008 (WRD, 2008), which states that agriculture is an effective engine for growth for most agriculture-based countries because it enables them to produce most of their own food. In addition, agriculture plays two crucial roles in agriculture-based countries, in the staple food crop sector, which reduces poverty and enhances household food security, and in the non-staple crop sector, which contributes to the export industry. As a result, agriculture, especially the staple food sector, is significant in advancing the realisation of the right of access to food.

To complement the objectives of the CAADP, African governments have adopted Agenda 2063. This has as its purpose consolidation of the modernisation of African agriculture by eradicating hunger and food insecurity, reducing the imports of food and promoting intra-Africa trade in agriculture and advocates for policies that enable women to access land and agricultural financing. Agenda 2063 aims to ensure extreme poverty is reduced and agriculture is used as a means of a pro-poor growth intervention by increasing poor people’s access to improved agricultural input and the adoption of modern and traditional technologies that support farming. In the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), state parties adopted the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy of 2014 (the SADC RAP), which recognises the importance of agriculture in improving economic growth, socioeconomic development and poverty reduction through achieving access to sufficient and safe food and promoting small-scale farming. According to paragraph 7 of the SADC RAP, the overall objective of this regional policy is to ensure sustainable agricultural growth and socioeconomic development including reducing social and economic vulnerabilities in the context of food and nutrition security and the changing climatic environment. Therefore, member states are endeavoured to enact national policies relating to sustainable agriculture in line with the SADC Treaty of the Southern African Development Community Rights of 1992 and other relevant regional instruments.

According to Bicaba et al. (2016) in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a high rate of inequality in relation to natural and agriculture resources. Such inequality can only be resolved by the implementation of policies that aim to accelerate growth in an inclusive and sustainable manner specifically within the agriculture sector. Hence, one of the key objectives of the SADC RAP is to enhance sustainable agricultural production, productivity and competitiveness. As a result, the Maputo Declaration provides that agriculture is at the core of reducing food insecurity in Africa and endeavours governments to implement measures that are aimed at increasing food and agricultural production to guarantee sustainable food security and ensure economic prosperity for its people. Paragraph 9 of the Abuja Declaration (2010) provides that governments should involve the most vulnerable sections of society, the physically challenged and youths to ensure their special needs to participate in economic activities are embraced and supported in agricultural development interventions and investment programmes. These regional instruments highlight the crucial role that agricultural transformation plays in the fight against impoverishment and food insecurity.

Therefore, in adopting such agreements, member states are trying to bridge the gap caused by poor governance, with the expectation that consensual commitments between member states will persuade individual state parties to promote and fulfil their obligations in relation to poverty eradication. One region that could benefit from such policies is sub-Saharan Africa including South Africa, which still bears the brunt of being the most food insecure region in Africa (State of Food Insecurity, 2014). Policies that aim to promote agricultural transformation are vital because the root cause of food insecurity in developing countries is the inability of people to gain access to food due to poverty. To this end, subsistence agriculture as a food security intervention has the propensity to promote the consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and farmer-driven agriculture (Headey, 2013).

This entails that SADC governments recognise the importance of food sovereignty in achieving food security. According to the discussions at the Nyeleni Forum on Food Sovereignty, food sovereignty prioritises local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal-fishing, pastoralist-led grazing and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability (Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty, Nyéléni, 2007). Hence, the approach of SADC governments to give priority to agriculture as a means of sustaining food production is not misplaced.

However, despite the Africa governments’ efforts to ensure food is available and accessible to all, it is of necessity that the right of access to food be explicitly included in the Africa Charter. The basis for this argument is trite because African governments have since adopted various instruments aimed at reducing food insecurity such as Agenda 2063, the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa of 2003 (the Maputo Declaration), CAADP, 2003 and the Declaration on Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development of 2008 (Mauritius Declaration). These regional instruments also complement international instruments such as the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural rights (ICESCR), Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) that explicitly entrench the right to food. Moreover, these instruments afford the right to food without any distinction based on sex or gender as indicative the African Women’s Protocol. Such distinction although aimed at ensuring women are given preference in the fight against poverty due to past inequalities, it is unacceptable to the extent that poverty affects everyone, including male-headed households (Isubikalu, 2007: 80–84; Mwaniki, 2006). For the reasons advanced above, it is recommended that future revisions of the African Charter be amended to include an explicit provision that protects the right of access to food for all Africans.

Pertinent food-specific policies and programmes in South Africa

Paragraph 9 of the 2030 Agenda provides that to succeed in achieving the SDGs, good governance and an enabling environment are essential for sustainable development, including sustained and inclusive economic growth, social development, environmental protection and the eradication of poverty and hunger. Furthermore, article 25(1) of the UDHR provides that every person has a right to a standard of living adequate for their health and that of their family, including the right to food. To this end, to achieve adequate food security, state parties and governments are encouraged to undertake activities aimed at the promotion of food self-sufficiency within the context of sustainable agriculture. Hence, there is a need to use agricultural production as a measure of attaining basic food security by promoting the production of micronutrient-rich foods in the context of small farms. According to Anderson and Bellows (2012), food sovereignty stresses the importance of local food security through local production than for income purposes. As a result, the South African government has enacted policies aimed at revamping and promoting subsistence agriculture as a livelihood resource for rural households.

Conclusion

This paper set out to reveal the importance of human development and food sovereignty in fostering conditions that enable rural households to enhance their food security capabilities, with specific reference to subsistence agriculture as a food security intervention at a household level and its efficacy in improving access to food. It was shown that human development plays a critical role in promoting the progressive realisation of the right of access to food within the broader framework of human rights. This entails that for food security strategies to be efficient, they should be implemented within the ambit of other socioeconomic development programmes. It was further shown from the analysis and discussion in other literature and international, regional and national policies that subsistence agriculture is viewed as the most viable and efficient pathway to reduce household food insecurity in rural households. Further, subsistence agriculture presents the most viable strategy in ensuring that households enjoy the right to food as entrenched in regional and international instruments. The reason being the right to food can only be realised when food is available both in the right quality and quantity and is accessible to individuals and households.

As a result, there is a need for the government to conduct a proper review of its policies and programmes to ensure the set targets for agricultural growth for 2019 and 2030 are achievable. Two areas that need constant review concern the provision of extension services and land reform. From the above discussion, it is clear that unless the factors that negatively affect subsistence farming are addressed, the right of access to sufficient food will remain out of reach for the rural poor. This entails that the requirements entrenched in section 27(2) of the Constitution of South Africa will not be efficiently fulfilled in accordance to South Africa’s regional and international commitments and obligations. Consequently, this will defeat the very aim of agrarian reform, namely achieving food sovereignty. This in turn will lead to individuals and households becoming food insecure and deprived of the enjoyment of accessing food and will not comply with the international standards requiring that food should be culturally acceptable and of adequate nutritional value.