South Africa's Food Security Plan Remains Unfunded

A lapsed national plan and an uncosted replacement leave millions of South Africans without a funded strategy against hunger.

Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Nutrition

South Africa's Food Security Plan Remains Unfunded

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Statistics South Africa recorded 9.4 million South Africans who went hungry in 2025, and the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan lapsed in 2023. A replacement plan remains in draft, uncosted and without a budget.

Why it matters

The lapse leaves South Africa without a funded, coordinated strategy against food insecurity and child malnutrition across the country. Without a budget or mandate, implementation responsibility stays scattered across departments.

The General Household Survey recorded 9.4 million South Africans going hungry in 2025, with 22% of households lacking adequate food access. Stunting affects 27% of children, and the replacement plan's costing has not yet been published.

The players

Statistics South Africa

The national statistics agency that publishes the General Household Survey used to measure hunger and food access across the country.

University of Pretoria

A public research university in Pretoria whose contributor took part in the discussion of the lapsed food and nutrition plan.

The details

The National Food and Nutrition Security Plan was created from 2012 by multiple government departments, the Presidency, research organisations and universities. Its coordinating council never met and the plan was largely unfunded, so departments continued business as usual.

2012: Creation of the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan began.
2020: More than 450 children under five died in public hospitals with malnutrition as an underlying condition in the first nine months.
2023: The National Food and Nutrition Security Plan lapsed.
2025: 9.4 million South Africans were recorded as going hungry.

Policy Context

The Food Security Bill was tabled in 2001 and remained unapproved in 2026, so the lapsed national plan sits within a long pattern of unfinished food security legislation. The replacement draft has the same unresolved funding problem that has stalled earlier efforts.

Households across South Africa face continued food insecurity while the replacement plan remains unfunded. Municipal plans may gain a clearer mandate if the draft is adopted with its proposed Maternal Support Grant for child stunting.

The takeaway

Hunger and malnutrition persist when a national plan exists on paper but lacks a budget and a working coordinating body. Tracking whether the replacement plan is costed will show whether it can address the 9.4 million people affected.

What happens next

Public consultations on the draft plan have been held in districts in each province since September, and the draft is still awaiting costing and a budget.