Household Food Security: A Look at Household Food Security in Rural South Africa, It’s Effect on Livelihoods and Impact on School Children in the Empangeni Rural Region, KwaZulu-Natal

Poverty and food insecurity remain the greatest challenge to the wellbeing and health of rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal. To try and curb this phenomenon, the South African government founded the National School Nutrition Programme as a nudge towards improving health and ensuring that children in across South Africa enroll and stay in school. This study uses a qualitative approach to conduct an investigation by observing 6 to 8 families in the Empangeni rural region of KwaZulu-Natal. Existing literature pertaining to the topic in the chosen area of study will also be reviewed. The legacy of Apartheid, skyrocketing unemployment rates, poor health and caregiver illiteracy were identified as the leading causes of rural indigence and household food insecurity. The study finds that households subject to or experiencing poverty have caregivers who are unemployed and rely on social assistance such as grants. Thus, they often prioritise the provision of food over sending their children to school. The National School Nutrition Programme and other School Feeding Schemes resorted to giving out food parcels to school children during the Covid-19 lockdown, and they continue to give out food parcels to needy children as an attempt to reduce food insecurity and alleviate poverty in areas such as Empangeni. Some alternatives to mitigating food insecurity and poverty that will be found in this study are: impoverished households getting financial assistance from members of the family who have migrated to urban areas, families resorting to migration to more urban areas where employment is not as scarce, acquiring an income via off-farm activities, which makes agriculture a secondary source of income and lastly, agricultural initiatives in the form of a private or communal garden and commercial farming.