The Integrated Food Security Strategy of South Africa: An institutional analysis

Abstract

In 2002 the Integrated Food Security Strategy (IFSS) was approved by Cabinet as the strategy that would integrate the many previously isolated policies tackling the challenge of food insecurity in South Africa. Recent focus on food security due to rising food prices at a national and global level has placed the food security agenda back in the spotlight. In this paper it is argued that there is a disjuncture between the institutional response mechanism defined in South Africa's strategy and the complexity of food insecurity nationally. It outlines why, as a response seated uncomfortably under the leadership of the National Department of Agriculture, the IFSS remains frustrated by a range of structural and organisational challenges. The IFSS provides a useful case study to demonstrate the importance of institutional arrangements to achieve food security that by its nature, requires integrated responses from diverse stakeholders.